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Communication And Outreach Service

from Annual Report 2019 CEAB-CSIC

from Annual Report 2019 CEAB-CSIC, page 84

Group Of Aquatic Macrophyte Ec...

The CEAB outreach programs for a non-scientific audience

The CEAB 2019 outreach program aims to explain the role of scientists in our society, contributing to the social understanding of the relevance of research and, in particular, providing general knowledge on science and research related to aquatic ecology. Having this objective in mind, the CEAB has organized and participated throughout the year in numerous dissemination activities to promote scientific knowledge and to achieve a public commitment with research.

One of our most celebrated activities is our participation in the Science Week, where year after year we organize multiple activities to bring our work closer to the general public. During these days we scheduled the Open Doors Days, with the participation of more than 450 students of Secondary and high school, as well as about 65 people in the free visits for general public. Besides, Dr Kike Ballesteros (staff member of the CEAB that participates in the National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project), filled the Plenary Hall of Blanes City Council with his presentation of the documentary “Malpelo” that included an open talk on the wildlife of this tropical Pacific island.

Another unmissable event on our calendar is the “Pint of Science”, an annual international science festival that takes our researchers to bars and pubs in Blanes to present their research. This year our activities were attended by about 150 people, who were able to follow the different talks (how pollution affects brain, the dependence of many organisms on silicon, the ways in which Posidonia meadows capture and retain CO2, and doubts and myths on the Tordera river). CEAB has also been very active in Citizen Science. One of our most important projects is Microplastic Watchers, which works with more than sixty schools in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands to diagnose the microplastic beach pollution. This is an initiative of the Observadors del Mar platform that we coordinate together with three CSIC institutes in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

We also lead the Big Mosquito Bytes initiative, which combines citizen science with other massive data sources to develop innovative models to predict the risk of epidemics transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes, as well as to visualize this risk in real time.

In another context, from the CEAB (where half of the staff are women), we are working to signify the role of women scientists in research, scheduling different activities both on International Women’s Day and in the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We have contributed by bringing our researchers closer to different schools so that they share with the students not only what their research is, but also their experiences, what motivated them to study science, or what has led them to end up dedicating themselves to science. The relevance of the women scientists was also made evident with the exhibition “Women in Limnology”, which was born from the firm will of 20 volunteers belonging to the Gender and Science group of the Iberian Limnology Association to make visible the role and situation of woman in the study of limnology. Three of them are from the CEAB.

We also have ongoing projects that have a strong media impact as they are rigorous topicality themes, such as beach erosion, where we study its causes and consequences, together with the solutions that are provided by science. We are also working on Blue Carbon, the carbon assimilated and stored by marine and coastal ecosystems, which represent large natural carbon sinks, very important in fitting against global climate change. The CEAB has also been significant during 2019 by organizing or co-organizing symposia such as the EPhD Ecological Symposium or the 1st Iberian Ecological Society Meeting, where a wide variety of topics were shared, all related to Ecology . In short, a year full of proposals that project the CEAB as one of the leading and reference research institutes in Spain.

RELEVANT DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

THE WEEKLY RADIO PROGRAM OF CEAB CELEBRATES ITS SECOND SEASON

Our communication manager and responsible, Anna Oliver, authors the weekly program ‘Brots de ciència’ broadcasted on the radio, dedicated to scientific research and dissemination activities of CEAB. ‘Brots de ciència’ brings the science that we do in our center to the nearest public. We talk about issues related to aquatic systems, the big impact studies, or current and more local cases. The program is on air every Friday at 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Ràdio Blanes, and every Monday at 6 p.m. on Ràdio Tordera, and it triggered new interviews in other radio platforms like Ona Maresme. Ona Maresme is produced jointly by the radio stations of Mataró, Premià de Mar, Calella, Canet de Mar, Malgrat de Mar, Palafolls and Tordera, with the support of La Xarxa de Comunicació Local of the Diputació de Barcelona.

PROJECTS IN CITIZEN SCIENCE

The CEAB has been having a clear commitment for Citizen Science projects for years. In this sense, the 2019 has been key in the process of consolidating the Observadores del Mar platform (coordinated jointly with the Institute of Marine Sciences - ICM - and the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies - IMEDEA). The platform has begun a new stage allied with the largest marine conservation project in Europe, LIFE INTEMARES (coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge). The aim is to promote marine citizen science in the five Catalan marine areas, in order to contribute to enhance social participation in improving the management of marine areas of the Natura 2000 Network. From the CEAB we contribute to projects, research and coordination to strengthen the community of Observadores del Mar and promote this platform into a reference in marine conservation.

CEAB’S OPEN DAY DOORS

The Open Doors Day at the end of November, as part of the Science Week, is being a key event year after year, raising awareness on how scientific research is advancing in the fields of biology and ecology. This year, more than 450 high school students have visited the CEAB During 2019, activities such as the Pint of Science in Blanes have been consolidated. The public, loyal, already knows and expects these days, where there have been more than remarkable audiences (120 people). Documentary screenings and forums or sessions in high schools during Women’s and Girls ’Day in Science have also become a tradition, where about 400 infant, primary and secondary education students met our researchers. At the same time, new collaborations have emerged to promote marine research and conservation, such as the Cycle of Talks and Cocktails on Posidonia oceanica, promoted by a fashion cocktail bar in Blanes with the intention and its laboratories, learning about projects and methodologies used in our research. This activity especially excited us because it really brings us closer to students while, at the same time, trying to awaken their scientific concer-

ns. of getting society to know better the particular nature of the meadows of this Mediterranean endemic marine phanerogam.

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