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Next Friday, September 26, 200 visitors will come to the CNIO to meet the researchers and learn about science in an interactive and entertaining way
‘Meet the researchers, be a researcher’ is the slogan for an evening in which around 30 scientists will provide guests the opportunity to tour through the Centre’s facilities, take part in hands-on experiments and speed-date the researchers
Once again, the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) will join one of the most anticipated events to popularise science in Europe, to be held on Friday, September 26: European Researchers’ Night. With the slogan Meet the researchers, be a researcher, CNIO scientists will put their experiments on hold for a few hours to attract interest in science among the young –and not so young– and to show them the value of their work in everyday life.
After the activity´s success in 2013, this year CNIO has expanded its capacity to 200 people. Wearing lab coats and disposable gloves, visitors will carry out experiments using DNA, as well as participate in a career speed dating session with researchers.
“SCIENTISTS ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY JOB”
Lisa Osterloh, CNIO researcher of the Melanoma Group who is involved in the organisation of the event says: “Our activities are suitable for people of all ages, but we place special emphasis on children and adolescents,” so they can see that “scientists are ordinary people with an extraordinary job. What’s more, science is open to everyone who is eager to learn new things, no matter what gender, age or nationality” (full interview –in Spanish– to Lisa Osterloh by the Foundation for Knowledge madri+d: http://www.madrimasd.org/informacionidi/noticias/noticia.asp?id=61424.)
EXPERIMENTING WITH DNA AND DATING SCIENTISTS
About 30 CNIO researchers, including laboratory technicians, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as laboratory managers from 7 different countries, will welcome guests with the showing of the video CNIO for Kids (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAuv84g7vNI), a virtual tour of the Centre’s facilities filmed and conducted by graduate students and postdoctoral (CNIOSA and CNIO-PDA) scientists.
Afterwards, visitors will extract DNA from a tomato using household products. The event will close with a speed dating session with the researchers, “the best chance to ask a researcher what you always wanted to know about science, or what does it mean to be a scientist,” explains Osterloh.
Since it was first launched –in 2005–, European Researchers’ Night has become an annual encounter between scientists and citizens not to be missed. As part of Horizon 2020, the biggest EU Research and Innovation Programme, it aims to show what researchers do and the value of their work to society; through guided visits of research labs, interactive science shows, hands-on experiments, science workshops, and more. It also aims to encourage scientific vocations and entrepreneurship amongst young people. In 2014, the event will take place in around 300 cities located throughout 24 different countries.
In Madrid, European Researchers’ Night is promoted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport for the Madrid Region, and coordinated by the Foundation for Knowledge madri+d.
‘Meet the researchers, be a researcher’
September 26, 2014, 6:00-10:00pm.
Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). Melchor Fernández Almagro, 3. Madrid.
About CNIO: www.cnio.es
About European Researchers’ Night in Madrid: http://www.madrimasd.org/lanochedelosinvestigadores/