Communication & Outreach

One of the main missions of ICMAB is to encourage scientific vocations and increase the general scientific knowledge of the society. Throughout last year, ICMAB continued to offer public engagement and science education activities. More than 30 events were held, including workshops for primary and secondary schools, training courses for teachers, school visits, summer internships, open day, science cafés, materials kit loans, and participation in science fairs and events for the dissemination of science (10alamenos9, Saló de l’ensenyament, Desgranando Ciencia, Science Week…). The ICMAB was also deeply engaged with the media in connection with the new findings published by our scientists in high-profile journals, and institutional and outreach activities, which led to articles in the press and online media as well as participation by scientists in radio or TV programmes. Moreover, we increased our online presence and interaction with the public through the main social networks and website. The communication & outreach will be reinfored in 2017 with a new officer.

Press

TV
Radio

RADIO:

Newspapers

Website news 2016

News

Social Networks

ICMAB is present in the major social networks:

  • Twitter: with more than 1000 followers, we aim at building a network with other Research Centers, from Catalunya, Spain, Europe and the world. We use twitter to disseminate the news in our website, the events, and to be informed about scientific news, especially in topics related to nanotechnology, energy, superconducting materials, nanomedicine, electronics, etc. We also use the #ICMABmoves to let people know where our researchers bring the results of their research.
  • Facebook: with more than 700 likes, we are building a friendly community, with news about ICMAB, about our researchers, with all the events, and with news related to our topics of interest. 
  • Instagram: in 2016 we started in a slow pace with this social network. With photos of our research groups, some events at ICMAB. For the moment, it is the more informal social network we have, and with about 100 followers. 
  • LinkedIn: with around 1500 followers, this professional social network is growing fast and improving its features. We publish in this network the news of our website, and we use it to interact with other Research Centers and Universities. It is also a good window for our future members!
  • Youtube: our videos in this network have reached more than 9,000 views. Videos about ICMAB members, its research. We would like to expand this channel with interviews of our researchers, about the topics of the research lines. With the Severo Ochoa Certificate of Excellence, we can make this possible!

Festivals

ICMAB participates in many Public Engagement activities for high-school and university students, and for the general public. Some of the Festivals that we participated in 2016 are:

  • 10alamenos9 Festival of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology:
    • 8 abril - II Nanodivulgation Meeting – Susana Garelik (San Sebastián);
    • 4 i 5 abril – Nanomaterials workshop: Anna May i Pol Sallés;
    • 5 abril – Seminar on Nanomedicine: Anna Laromaine;
    • 6 abril – Open Doors – Neus Romà, Bernat Bozzo, Andrés Gómez, Ana Esther, Judith Oró,
  • Saló de l’ensenyament: 9-13 March. Júlia Jareño, Ferran Vallès, Bohores Villarejo i Guillermo De Andrés.
  • Desgranando ciència: 15, 16, 17 abril – Dolores Bueno – Parque de las Ciencias, Granada
  • Science Week: 16 novembre – Alexandre Ponrouch + Lab visits

School Visits

Out center receives every year visits from differnt highschools. We offer a seminar from one of our researchers and a visit to our main facilities. During 2016 we had the following visits:

  • 27 January – IES Vall de Tenes – Anna Laromaine and Andrés Gómez + Lab visits
  • 18 February– IES Infanta Isabel d’Aragó – Núria Crivillers + Lab visits
  • 10 June – Purdue University (Indiana, USA), Materials Engineering School – Nora Ventosa, Lídia Ferrer, Manel Souto, Neus Romà
  • July - “Joves i Ciència” programme by Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera17 November - IES Infanta Isabel d’Aragó
  • 27 November – IES Vall del Tenes
  • December - Ins Cassà de la Selva - Arantzatzu González + Lab visits

Women in Science

At ICMAB we promote equal opportunities for men and women and boost women’s advancement in scientific careers.

With this in mind, we carry out multiple initiatives to give visibility to our female scientists: 
A newly Gender Commission has been created.
The Gender Commission created within the Severo Ochoa project has the goal of recognizing and strengthening equal opportunities within the Institute. 
International Day of Women and Girl in Science, on February 11
The first edition of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science was created in 2016 by the United Nations to emphasize the importance of Women in Science and to rise the gender equality in the scientific world. For this reason, ICMAB wants to join this initiative, to motivate women and girls to join the scientific career.
Activities and awards
We encourage all the scientists to participate in different activities and awards

As a matter of fact, Anna Laromaine was awarded with one of the five Awards “Women in Science” from l’Oréal-UNESCO in 2016 for her project on C. elegans and nanomaterials. 
Gender-equality, diversity and inclusion of people with disabilities.
ICMAB is an equal opportunity employer committed to gender-equality, diversity and inclusion of people with disabilities.

ICMAB is commited to the principles of The European Charter for Researchers & Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers promoted by the European Commission. The main idea underlying these principles is that of open, transparent and merit-based recruitment (OTM-R), a set of best practices promoted by the European Commission to ensure that the best person for the job is recruited. They seek to guarantee equal opportunities and access for all, enable the development of an international portfolio and make research careers more attractive.

Other Activities

A researcher in your classroom
Program “A researcher in your classroom”: this outreach initiative bring ICMAB members to highschools. During one class hour, the students have another kind of "teacher". They explain them their scientific career and show them the new materials. 
  • Miquel Royo -  Institut Alt Penedés, Vilafranca del Penedés
  • Anna Roig - Eina, Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
  • Susagna Ricart - INS Castellar
  • Nora Ventosa - Institut La Serreta, Rubí
  • Riccardo Rurali - “Comparteix la recerca” (organized by Observatori de la Ciència)
 
Seminars
  • Gender and class inequality in social networking sites (9 Feb)
  • A coffee with the Research (FCRi, Ibercaja) (25 April 2016)
  • Seminar on Open Access publications (10 May 2016)
  • BNC-b Students Meeting (29-30 June)
  • Tribute to Prof. Manuel Cardona (22 July)
  • Strategies towards achieving a top level of scientific excellence at the UAB Campus (17 October)
  • Itinerant cycle of lectures by Prof. Josep Fontcuberta as "Distinguished Lecturer" of the IEEE – 64 lectures given.
  • Científiques a prop – Esther Barrena “Haciendo visible lo invisible: un paseo por el nanomundo”. (17 November, 30 pm at La Monroe de la Filmo)
  • Science Week. Seminar and guided visit “Noves tecnologies de bateries més enllà de l’ió liti” by Dr. Alexandre Ponrouch. (16 November, 9.30 am)
  • International Day of Health and Safety at Work. Seminar by Carmen Romera and Adrián Allue “Cómo se gestionan los residuos en el ICMAB” and “Cómo se procesan los residuos de los centro de investigación.” (28 April)
 
Formation
  • Professors i Ciència - 25,26 May, 1 June – 15 hours course. Organized by "Fundació La Pedrera Catalunya"
  • Argó Programme – July 2016 –Judith Oró, Andrés Gómez, Ana Esther, Anna Crespi, Susana Garelik, Bernat Bozzo
  • Introduction of 3D in the classrooms. Course on “Material growing, from the lab to the classroom”. Students: ESO and Batxillerat teachers. June 2016 - Anna Crespi, Judit Oro, Maite Simón, Guillermo de Andrés, Susana Garelik y Andrés Gómez
  • Training Program FUNMAT: Spin-offs and Patents (novembre
  • Kit "Creixement de materials: del laboratori a l'aula" given by ICMAB to CESIRE. The kit includes a 3D printing Doodler pen.
  • NFFA-Europe Project Summer School devoted to "Nanoscience Foundries and Fine Analysis (NFFA), available instruments and techniques" took place at the Engineering School of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) between 18-22
 
Outreach Articles
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona
Campus de la UAB 08193 Bellaterra, SPAIN
info@icmab.es
Tel: +(34) 935 801 853
Fax: +(34) 935 805 729
 
Illustrations
Alejandro Santos 
Edition
Anna May-Masnou
Graphic Design
José Antonio Gómez

Webmasters
José Antonio Gómez 
Albert Moreno