The exhibition of a research project in which the research staff of Ecimat (Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo, CIM), CIMA (Marine Research Center of the Xunta de Galicia) and Ánfaco-Cecopesca work together on the sea cucumber or sea urchin, won the 1st edition of the MARatón competition, an initiative of the Marine Genetic Resources Laboratory and the CIM, with the aim of disseminating, in just eight minutes, to a non-specialized public, the work carried out by the researchers. Tania Ballesteros, technician of the Toralla Marine Sciences Station, was the one who, with her exhibition In the month of May…Let’s talk about the sea urchin!, won over the other seven participants in the first edition of the competition, which was held yesterday and the day before at the Tinta negra bar in Vigo.
“In her presentation, Tania Ballesteros conveyed the passion she has for the research work she has been carrying out for years, as well as her skills as a publicist, which she usually puts into practice during the visits that groups of schoolchildren make to the CIM”, explains Alba Hernández, research technician at Ecimat and head of communication and outreach at CIM-Uvigo, about the winner of the competition, born from the hand of researcher María Fernández, pre-doctoral student at the University of Vigo. Ballesteros is a researcher hired under the project Study of the biology, population status and genetic diversity of sea cucumbers in the Vigo estuary, which has as its general objective to expand knowledge about the sea cucumber (Holothuria forskali) in all those aspects that are most relevant for its fisheries management, as well as to establish synergies and lines of work with interested agents, in order to design the necessary lines of research and collaboration.
For their part, David Santos, a student at the School of Telecommunications Engineering with his exhibition Underwater Noise in the Vigo Estuary, and Andrea Muras, from the Aquaculture and Biotechnology Group of the USC with Quorum Sensing: the incredible story of Vibrio fisheri and the Hawaiian squid, won second and third prizes, respectively. Fisheries governance, marine microbiology, bacterial nutrition, and the biological fixation of nitrogen in the Vigo Estuary were other topics covered in the exhibitions of the participants in the MARatón, a group characterized by the diversity of their profiles, including both students and research staff from the universities of Vigo and USC, as well as representatives of private companies.
A first edition that exceeded expectations
Para as responsables do certame, a valoración da primeira edición é máis que positiva ao cumprirse os obxectivos do concurso, destinado a fomentar a divulgación do traballo investigador, de xeito sinxelo, ameno e cun vocabulario comprensible, entre un público non especializado. “O MARatón foi mellor do esperado, tanto na participación do público, cunhas 30 ou 40 persoas en cada sesión, como polas intervencións das e dos participantes”, explican as organizadoras, que cara a vindeiras edicións, teñen claro que terán que difundilo con máis antelación da que se fixo este ano, para así acadar un maior número de participantes.
