More than 300 people visit the ICM during the Science Week

This week, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) of Barcelona has received the visit of more than 300 people as part of the Science Week 2022, in which the Open Days of the Institute are organized. In addition, this year the Institute screened a documentary of its own production and organized a debate with high school students.

In total, a dozen schools from all over Catalonia, several families and the general public visited the Institute. During the Open Days, visitors were able to enjoy three workshops conducted by the ICM-CSIC, the Marine Technology Unit (UTM), which manages the bases and oceanographic vessels, and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), all housed in the same building.

In addition, yesterday the documentary "Relats del Canvi Global. Capítol 1: El Delta de l'Ebre, produced by ICM-CSIC and LCATM with the support of the FECYT, was screened. Finally, today took place the debate [R]evolutionise life in the ocean, an activity organized in collaboration with the IBE and aimed at high school students in which they have been proposed to design a way of life that adapts to a changing ocean like the one we have now.

As for the Open Doors proposals, the ICM-CSIC offered the Antarctic workshop, talks on the Arctic sea-ice melting, the seabed, ocean salinity, the study of the sea from the space and the numerical models used for oceanographic research. In addition, young and old alike were able to enjoy the workshops on fishing assessment, the electronic microscope or a final proposal on embryonic development. 

For its part, the IBE offered a workshop on butterfly biodiversity and another on cockroaches, while the UTM deployed in its laboratories the buoys, robots and other instruments used to collect data from the water column and the seabed in oceanographic vessels.

"This year we are especially happy, since the places were filled faster than ever, which proves the people’ interest in knowing the sea and its role in such relevant aspects as the Earth's climate regulation", explain the ICM-CSIC Marine Culture Committee members, in charge of those days’ organization.

The ICM-CSIC Open Days are one of the most relevant moments of the Institute, since they allow both students and the general public to access the spaces where scientific knowledge is developed, getting in direct touch with the laboratories and research teams.

Lastly, they underline the social commitment of the institution, one of the priorities of which is to transmit to society the knowledge about the ocean so that it learns to protect and respect it as it should be respected which experts define as the natural system that keeps us alive.