With demonstrative activities and workshops this Friday in A Laxe shopping centre.
On November 5th, informative trips are scheduled for 120 people on a classroom boat.
As has become customary in recent years, the research centres of the University of Vigo join the programme Divulgando Ciencia Singular to publicise and highlight the work carried out in their laboratories and to bring the results of their research to the general public. This week it will be the turn of the CIM-Marine Research Centre, which has scheduled two practical and informative activities open to all citizens. This Friday 21st in the afternoon, part of its research staff will be at the A Laxe shopping centre to explain the different scientific lines developed by the research groups through workshops. Two weeks later, on 5 November, there will be a scientific outing along the estuary, also open to the general public.
As the director of the CIM, Daniel Rey, points out, “we have a duty to make what we do known to society, and not only that, but also to make visible the relevance of this research for our future and for the future of the oceans. It is also the most powerful tool we have to generate scientific vocations in the children who participate in these activities with their families”.
Both initiatives are developed under the programme Divulgando Ciencia Singular, funded by the General Secretariat of Universities of the Department of Culture, Education and University Planning of the Xunta de Galicia, which aims to carry out free scientific outreach activities for all audiences to publicise the activity of the research centres of the Galician University System and the importance it has for society in general.
From the street to the estuary
The first of the activities, Meet the CIM in the street, will take place this Friday between 17.00 and 20.00 in the first floor of the A Laxe shopping centre, due to the impossibility of doing it outdoors as planned because of the weather forecast. At this event, researchers from the CIM will present the different lines of work related to biodiversity, climate change, fishing, palaeontology, genetics, etc. Through a series of workshops, games and activities, those interested will learn through experience and manipulation various issues related to the marine environment and the research carried out at the CIM.
A second activity, Embarcate con el CIM (Embark with the CIM), was also planned for this same week, but will finally take place on Saturday 5 November, also due to the weather conditions. This is one of the proposals that every year ends up more successful in the open days, an outreaching outing along the estuary. Participants, with prior registration, will be able to get on board of a classroom boat and sail between the Laxe dock and the island of Toralla. During the trip, a series of observation activities will be carried out, sediment and marine organism samples will be taken and explanations will be given by various researchers from the CIM. Once on the island, there will be a guided visit to the Toralla Marine Science Station, the main scientific infrastructure of the Marine Research Centre. There, and with the help of the technical staff, they will get to know the research laboratories, the auxiliary culture rooms, the mesocosm facilities and the pump room, and they will witness different experiments by the CIM scientific staff. Three shifts are planned for this activity (09.00-12.00, 12.15-15.15 and 16.00-19.00) with 40 places available in each one. Those interested should go to the CIM website to register. The procedure is automatic through a web form and by rigorous order of entry until all places are taken.
Source: DUVI