European Researchers’ Night returns with nearly one hundred outreach activities
More than 300 researchers are taking part in the ninth edition of the event, bringing science closer to the public through workshops, exhibitions and talks
IPHES-CERCA is taking part for the ninth consecutive year
European Researchers’ Night returns this year with a record number of activities. This major science outreach event, coordinated and organised in the Tarragona region by the Science Communication Unit of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), will feature around one hundred activities designed for different audiences and taking place across the region. More than 300 researchers from the URV and the CERCA research centres in the area will participate: the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA). The initiative, which takes place simultaneously across Europe, is supported by the European Union.
More than 50 science workshops
The main activity of European Researchers’ Night is the science workshop fair, which will take place in Tarragona’s Plaça Corsini on the afternoon of Friday 25 September and the morning of Saturday 26 September. Over the two days, 50 workshops covering a wide range of fields will offer hands-on activities designed to bring science closer to children and adults in an engaging and accessible way.
Upon entering the square, children will receive a science passport that they can have stamped after completing each workshop. Once completed, the passport can be exchanged for a small gift. The main aim, however, is to bring children closer to science and spark their curiosity through experimentation, accompanied by researchers working at the University and research centres. The workshop fair will be open on Friday from 4:30 pm to 9 pm and on Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm. Admission is free.
Outreach talks and workshops
In addition to the science workshops, a range of preliminary activities have been organised to bring science to other audiences. From 1 September to 20 October, Tarragona’s Mercat Central is hosting “Castells de ciència”, an exhibition of fourteen illustrated posters created by the URV to explain the different scientific disciplines connected with the world of castells (human towers), ranging from anthropology to physics and mathematics, as well as architecture, Catalan philology, sociology and psychology, among others.
On 16 September, the Antic Ajuntament in Tarragona hosted the presentation of the second issue of the science outreach magazine Mirades de ciència, featuring twelve articles on research carried out at the University.
Until 24 September, secondary schools across the Tarragona region will receive visits from researchers from the URV and research institutes, who will give talks and run outreach workshops on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and archaeology to consumer culture, biology, law, 3D printing and photosynthesis.
An activity for adult audiences has also been scheduled for Monday 21 September at the Castell del Cambrer in Reus: a session of seven short science talks organised by IRBCatSud in collaboration with the URV, in which researchers from the University and the region’s CERCA institutes will briefly present their research.
IPHES-CERCA PARTICIPATION
IPHES-CERCA is taking part in European Researchers’ Night for the ninth consecutive year, with a range of outreach activities bringing research on human evolution, archaeology and prehistory closer to the public.
HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS AT PLAÇA CORSINI IN TARRAGONA
Friday 25 September, from 4:30 pm to 9 pm
Archbotanka Keliya! Discovering plants in prehistory. With Andrea Alías, Jennifer Edama, Piyumi Embuldeniya, Miriam Salas, Irene Gonzalez and Buddisha Weerasuriya.
In this workshop, participants will become prehistoric detectives and discover how archaeology uses plants to reconstruct life in the past. Through a participatory activity, we will explore how ethnobotany and archaeobotany help us understand what prehistoric societies ate, how they organised themselves and what technologies they used.
Saturday 26 September, from 10 am to 2 pm
The devil knows more from being old than from being a devil. With Ethel Allué, Aitor Burguet, Sara García, Tomás Fernández-Iriarte, Isabel Expósito and Paula Casajoanes.
An activity aimed particularly at older people that seeks to recover memories of the use of fire and fuels across different generations and relate them to the study of energy resources in the past. The workshop will explore how, since prehistoric times, fire has been used for cooking, lighting, keeping warm and social interaction.
Micropalaeontology: discovering the smallest animals. With Andrea Alías, Juan Manuel López, Mónica Fernández and Mario Marqueta.
Would you like to become a nature detective and uncover the secrets of the past? In this workshop, participants will dissect owl pellets (the remains regurgitated by birds of prey) to identify the small bones of their prey. Through this investigation, participants will learn to recognise parts of the skeleton and discover what the landscape, climate and fauna of a region were like, while understanding how these “clues” help scientists reconstruct life even in prehistoric times.
SHORT SCIENCE TALKS IN REUS (7 pm – Castell del Cambrer)
Monday 21 September
The diet that made us human. With Marina Lozano. An introduction to how studying the diets of our ancestors can reveal fundamental aspects of human evolution.
An archaeologist rummaging through the rubbish. With Maria Joana Gabucio. An archaeological look at how humans have generated and managed waste since the Palaeolithic.
The two IPHES-CERCA and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) researchers will take part in the “Recerca pel canvi” short science talks, organised by IRBCatSud and aimed at adult audiences.
TALKS AND WORKSHOPS IN SCHOOLS
As part of European Researchers’ Night, IPHES-CERCA research and technical staff are also taking part in activities aimed at schools across the Tarragona region.
Among these activities, Andrea Alías, science outreach technician at IPHES-CERCA, together with Jennifer Edama, Piyumi Embuldeniya and Buddisha Weerasuriya, will run the “Archbotanka Keliya” workshop for pupils at Escola Puigcerver in Reus.
BARRANC DE LA BOELLA
Saturday 26 September, from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm
Coinciding with the annual excavation campaign, IPHES-CERCA and the City Council of La Canonja are organising an open house at the Barranc de la Boella site to bring the research being carried out there closer to the public.
