Events

28th-29th May 2022, Rambla del Raval

Fifteenth edition of the Science Festival

This year we will once again be holding the Science Festival, organised since its beginnings by the Barcelona Science programme of the Barcelona Institute of Culture and, since 2021, by Barcelona Science and Universities of the Barcelona City Council, with the aim of promoting the essential dialogue between science and society, offering proposals open to all citizens.

One of the aspects included in the Barcelona Science Plan 2020-2023 is the importance of the Science Festival as an event for scientific dissemination and communication to generate critical capacity, knowledge and scientific vocation. The Plan is also committed to a new model for the Festival that is decentralised throughout the territory and in collaboration with the city's districts and facilities. Therefore, the Festival will be held each year in a different part of the city and we will bring it closer to the different territories that make up the city. The aim is to establish future relations with the districts and the associative network of the neighbourhood where the Festival takes place each year, so that it is not a point and a part of the territory in question, but rather a work of continuity.

The fifteenth edition will take place on 28 and 29 May on Barcelona's Rambla del Raval.

The Science Festival is configured on the basis of proposals from the local sector: universities, research centres, institutions and science dissemination companies that send their offer of activities and from which Barcelona Science and Universities selects those that will form part of the final programme.

The framework of the Festival

The Science Fest always tries to consider themes related to anniversaries that take place during its year of celebration. In this sense, it is worth mentioning that the year 2022 is:

• International Year of Glass ((zero plastic, sustainability)
• International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture
• AInternational Year of the Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development
• We are in the midst of the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)

Given the current global situation, we cannot fail to address some of the issues as envisaged in the 2022 international years and plan activities to raise awareness and focus attention on the benefits of sustainable development. However, the Festival also includes all current topics related to science in its broadest sense (experimental sciences, social sciences, humanities and the arts):

• Environment. Climate change is a fact confirmed by the international community and we must continue working to raise public awareness of the importance of changing our behaviour in order to improve the environment in which all human beings live together.
• Medicine and health. It is essential to talk about medicine and health in the Fiesta, taking into account the numerous research centres, institutions and university research groups, all of them at the forefront, present in our city and dedicated to the field of biomedicine.
• Numbers. Mathematics has also always been present at the festival. A world without mathematics would be inconceivable, since without numbers we would not be able to understand the world around us.
• Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has many applications that a large part of the public is unaware of: from the field of medicine, new materials or electronics are some examples.
• Robots and artificial intelligence. Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence open up an immense world in disciplines such as medicine. These are fields that are advancing very fast and we must also face them from an ethical point of view.
• Makers. In recent decades, the so-called maker culture has grown, based on DIY (Do It Yourself) culture, which allows citizens to participate in technological advances, to be self-sufficient and at the same time to do so in a more collaborative way.
• Scientific illustration/scientific comic. Both allow us to bring science closer to the public, making it more understandable. It is not in vain that we find an increasing use of formats such as comics in the world of popularisation and scientific communication.
• Women and science. Women have been invisible in the world of science despite the fact that they have contributed significantly to it since its beginnings. Young people should be encouraged to realise that women can also have brilliant careers, both in science and technology.
• Art and science. The mixture of artistic and scientific languages makes it possible to bring scientific knowledge closer to the public. For this reason, it is of great interest to bring to the Festival activities that work in one way or another on this interrelation. In other editions, activities linking dance and science and circus and science (physics of movement), cooking and chemistry, music and science, etc. have been programmed.

Other themes that bring scientific knowledge to the public are welcome at the Festival.

The venues of the Festival

In 2022 the Science Festival will take place in the Ciutat Vella district, in the Raval neighbourhood and, specifically, in the Rambla del Raval, the newest of Barcelona's Ramblas, with a wide street that allows us to locate the necessary infrastructures and where people from different social, cultural and geographical backgrounds can be found. In addition, and taking advantage of its proximity, Plaza Vázquez Montalban may also be available.

The activities will be organised in the space by thematic affinity (health, environment, numbers, etc.) and we will have activities for children and also for young people and adults. There will also be:

• The 0-6 Space. This is the space with activities for children up to the age of 6. Here, the children can explore, experiment and awaken their curiosity.
• The Reading Space. Books can be consulted, there will be storytellers, etc. There will be no book presentations as in previous editions, as this format is not very attractive for visitors to the festival.
• The Micro-talk space. A regular space for micro-talks for young and adult audiences where researchers from our country and from different disciplines explain in 20 minutes the latest advances and leading innovations in their field of study.
• The Debate Space. A space for young and adult audiences where experts from different disciplines will address current scientific issues in a maximum of 40 minutes.
• The Performance Space. As always, there will be a couple of points in the Festival where, among other activities, science shows, theatre, dance, circus or any other performance where the mixture of artistic and scientific languages will take place.

Dates and schedule

The Festival will take place on the last weekend of May:

Saturday, 28 May, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday, 29 May, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Type of activities

Given that the situation is gradually returning to normal, after a long period of pandemic that has forced us to consider many preventive measures, the Science Festival will once again present the activities as usual, without having to perimeter the spaces and, except for some exceptional cases such as some workshops, without the need for prior registration.

We will once again hold the Festival as we have always done, respecting the security measures indicated to us at that precise moment. We will be able to find the following formats:

Workshops and demonstrations

• To encourage interaction and experimentation on different topics. These are hands-on activities in which participants take part individually or collectively in an experiment. They can be aimed at children, young people and adults.
• The ideal duration is 45 minutes.
• Up to two 60-minute sessions are possible.
• Depending on the activity, the spaces can be set up with several small tables, or a large central counter and some supporting furniture. Fixed wall elements are not recommended.

Micro-talks

• Aimed at young people or adults over the age of 16, to find out more from researchers from different fields of science and technology.
• 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of audience participation/questions.
• The space is equipped with a plasma screen for the presentation.
• There is a host for the presentation of each speaker and the management of audience participation.
• The focus is on ongoing projects and lines of research.

Debates

• Also aimed at people over the age of 16 and adults in general, these 30-40 minute debates deal with a number of topics in depth and bring different approaches, challenges and solutions to the table.

Itineraries

• Several routes lasting a maximum of one hour will invite us to walk along the Rambla and its surroundings, exploring different aspects such as its flora, birds, sounds, etc.

Unique spaces and facilities

• In some cases, due to the exceptional nature of the proposal, permanent spaces for scientific discovery are set up where the public can experience and understand aspects such as balance, optics, etc.
• This permanence can last half a day or the whole weekend.

Shows

• Proposals such as storytelling, theatre, dance, music, humour, magic, shows, collective experiments, etc. also have a place in the Festival.