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The UOC is organizing four activities for the Barcelona Science Festival

04/06/2018
Science for families: come and find out how "we?re all geniuses!?

Once again Barcelona’s Parc de la Ciutadella is hosting the 12th Science Festival. This grand two-day event, held this year on 9 and 10 June, aims to bring scientific and technical knowledge to the public. A day out to have fun, experiment, debate and discover. As the organizers tell us, we’re all geniuses!

With more than 230 free activities for all ages, everyone taking part will have the chance to get hands-on, experiment and enjoy science in all its dimensions.

Check out the programme of activities, which features the following UOC activities:

Future Story Hunters

When: Saturday 9 June, at 4:30 pm and Sunday, 10 June, at 11 am

Where: Area 27

Perform! Science stand-up

When: Saturday 9 June, at 7:20 pm

Where: Area 19

Science stand-up aimed at the general public, from 12 years on, created by a group of 4th-year secondary school students on various STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) topics. As part of the PERFORM European research project, students have had the help of researchers, teaching staff and science communicators from the Big Van Ciencia company. This project is coordinated by the UOC through researcher Isabel Ruiz Mallén, from the Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory (TURBA Lab) research group, and Paula Fernández Calotti, the project manager. The aim of PERFORM is to engage young people in science and technology through performance. Students from the IES Castellbisbal, IES Consell de Cent and IES Moises Broggi secondary schools will be taking part in the performance.

Pint of Science: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain

When: Saturday 9 June, at 7:45 pm

Where: Area 7

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency created in 2009, behind which is the so-called blockchain technology. Victor Garcia Font, researcher with the K-riptography and Information Security for Open Networks (KISON) research group, will reveal what all these concepts mean, the multiple applications offered by this technology and the uses being made of it in such fields as research, economics and technology.

ParkinSons: music as a tool for therapy

When: Sunday 10 June, at 1:15 pm

Where: Area 1

Research shows that activities like listening to music, dancing or singing act as a therapeutic support for people with Parkinson’s. This talk for adults will present the ParkinSons mobile app, created to improve patients’ lives through music. The presentation will be given by Teresa Fèrriz, who is in charge of new projects for the UOC's Office of the President and Institutional Relations, together with Ines Cambra, who is head of projects for the UOC's Globalization and Cooperation, and Gabriel Kulisevsky, a music therapy specialist. All three are members of the ParkinSons project, which was jointly developed by the UOC, Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu and GMV through an open innovation programme promoted by Hubbik, the platform supporting entrepreneurship and open innovation linked to the University’s areas of knowledge.

Gemma San Cornelio and Antoni Roig, researchers with the Digital Media and Culture (MEDIACCIONS)  research group, are organizing this workshop for children over 11 on the collective creation of stories through play and creativity techniques. Participants will be able to speculate on what the future awaiting them will be like, considering aspects such as city and natural resource sustainability and environmental conservation. The activity is part of Future Story Hunters: co-creating citizenship through storytelling, a research project coordinated by Roig which was funded by the Barcelona City Council in 2017. Three schools in Barcelona have participated: La Salle Gràcia, CEIP Ramon Llull and IES Juan Manuel Zafra. Also taking part in the workshop are Fernanda Pirés and Maite Garcia, from the MEDIACCIONS group. Continuing through 2018, the project has various members on its research team. These include Elisenda Ardèvol and Debora Lanzeni (MEDIACCIONS); Begonya Enguix, from the Genders in Transition: Masculinities, Affections, Bodies and Technoscience (MEDUSA) group, and Daniel Aranda and Silvia Siviera, from the Learning, Media and Entertainment (GAME) research group.