European Researchers’ Night was held on 27 and 28 November, with over 300 cities in 30 European countries taking part simultaneously. This year's event featured the participation of nine researchers from UIC Barcelona, who contributed to bringing science and innovation closer to the public in a fun and accessible way.

Due to the current pandemic, the Night adapted most of its activities to an online format in order to reach everyone in the safest and most practical way possible. The two-day event included live conferences and round-table discussions, as well as more than 60 short talks. 

Researchers from the Faculty of Education, Mariana Fuentes and María Teresa Fuertes, gave a live conference called “Teaching and service learning projects (ApS): looking at the projects from the inside”. The two researchers say commented how “disseminating and publicising research is very important, but only too often is not given the necessary dedication and time. These kinds of initiatives offer a great opportunity to promote the research we carry out”.

Likewise, Sílvia Albaeda and Mónica Fernández, lecturers at the Faculty of Education; Adaia Valls and Javier Vilarrasa, lecturers at the Faculty of Dentistry; Salvador Vidal, vice dean of the Faculty of Education and Felipe Pich-Aguilera, lecturer at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, recorded short talks that were made available over the two days on the European Researchers’ Night’s channels. Focusing on their corresponding fields of research, they discussed topics such as obstructive sleep apnea and its treatment through orthognathic surgery (Adaia Valls); verbal communication skills in teacher training (Mariana Fuentes); promoting sustainable consumption through the teaching of mathematics (Salvador Vidal); participation of the religions present in Catalonia in climatic culture (Sílvia Albareda and Mònica Fernández); architecture as a bioclimatic instrument (Felipe Pich-Aguilera); the effect of environmental contaminants on human health (Mònica Fernández) and preventing dental implant infections through antibacterial coatings (Javier Vilarrasa).

The researchers all agree on the importance of these initiatives to publicise and disseminate the research being carried out at the university. As Javier Vilarrasa explained, “the experience of taking part in this event has been very positive and rewarding, and it is worth highlighting the high academic standard and relevance of all the talks, as well as the international impact of the event”.