- As in previous editions, these research institutes will host a school fair and another event for the general public, featuring a live band performance this year.
The CSIC centers on the Cantoblanco campus are coming together once again to bring science to a diverse audience during the European Night of Researchers. After surpassing their own record last year by gathering a thousand people, on September 29, 2023, they will join forces with the 12 de Octubre Hospital to organize the mega-event "All Science: CSIC Night at the 12th," which will culminate in a live band concert.
The 12 de Octubre Hospital is carrying out a comprehensive project to promote culture and science, including various activities such as concerts, lectures, theater performances, workshops, and exhibitions aimed at patients, their families, and professionals. The goal of these actions is for society to perceive the hospital not only as one of the most prestigious national and international healthcare centers working to improve the health and quality of life of patients and their families with state-of-the-art technology and nearly 7,000 professionals but also as a space oriented toward educational and research purposes.
With this premise, it joins the 10 CSIC centers located on the campus of the Autonomous University of Madrid. Thanks to this alliance, in addition to the traditional outreach activities offered by these centers, covering a wide range of topics such as materials science, theoretical physics, mathematics, food science, biology, or nanoscience and science cooperation, the 12 de Octubre's offerings will have a special place at the fair.
The event's organization follows the same pattern as in previous years, but with special surprises. In the morning of September 29, school classes (primary and secondary, in two consecutive shifts that must be reserved in advance in the days leading up to the event) will be welcomed to enjoy a guided tour of various "stations" with various scientific experiments. This will be combined, as tradition dictates, with the famous "Escape Road: In Search of Nobel and Non-Nobel Women," which has been highly successful after years of touring Spain and will also be available in the afternoon.
"Participants will enjoy scientific workshops led by specialists throughout the morning and take part in a scavenger hunt related to women awarded with the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal, and the Abel Prize," explains Silvia Gallego, a researcher at the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, and the project coordinator.
In the afternoon, the general public will have the opportunity to visit, also by reservation at no cost, the space where these eleven centers (10 CSIC + 12 de Octubre) will offer scientific workshops. Have you ever wondered about the role of taste and smell when enjoying food? Do you know what a vacuum is? What does catalysis mean? How is biotechnology done with plants? Can you see sound? What is nanoscience all about? All of these questions, and much more, will be answered in fun and interactive workshops for all ages, led by experts in scientific communication as masters of ceremonies.
Of course, the hospital itself will have a prominent space, where various demonstrations of the science "crafted" in a healthcare center, beyond curing diseases, will take place. The workshops at the 12 de Octubre Hospital will be held at the Center for Simulation and Advanced Training (CSIM), which allows learning in a controlled environment by recreating healthcare scenarios to improve patient care and safety.
"This is a great opportunity since we will have a wide range of diverse sciences in one place, so anyone who attends our event will leave with extensive knowledge of what is being researched in our country," continues Gallego. She also emphasizes that holding the 'Researchers Night' at the 12 de Octubre will make the event more inclusive, reaching out to the audience with transportation difficulties due to being in a healthcare center.
'Todo ciencia. La Noche del CSIC en el 12' will conclude with a live concert by the band Schizzofunk, which describes itself as a funk, rock, and Madrid-style groove band. They will perform their own songs for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes at the end of the day. The band consists of drums, bass, two guitars, and a saxophone, as explained by Miguel Camblor, a researcher at the ICMM and one of the group's members. All of this makes this year's event one of the most exciting ones during the 'Researchers Night' in Madrid.
After selling out in previous years, the organization will open the possibility of reserving all activities in advance to ensure that everyone can participate. This can be done through the event's website starting on September 11 at 9 a.m. Access without a reservation will also be allowed if the capacity permits.
The centers organizing this activity are the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid (ICMM), the Institute of Ceramics and Glass (ICV), the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP), the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB), the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CBM-SO), the Institute of Food Science (CIAL), the Institute of Theoretical Physics (IFT), the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), the Institute of Nano and Microelectronics (IMN), and the Alberto Sols Biomedical Research Institute together with the 12 de Octubre Hospital.
MADRIDNIGHT is a scientific outreach project coordinated by the madri+d Foundation and funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Program, through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, with grant agreement no. 101061343.
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