With TREC, we embark on a journey through European coastlines to explore the biodiversity and molecular adaptability of microbial communities as well as key selected organisms. We focus on coastal habitats as they are the richest in species biodiversity and they also often present the highest levels of pollution.
TREC Expedition in Barcelona
Traversing European Coastlines
A new era of coastal ecosystems exploration
TREC multinational core partners are the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Tara Ocean Foundation and European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-ERIC). In Barcelona, one of the super-sites of the expedition, the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) acts as a local hosts, and develops activities in collaboration with IBE, IDAEA and CEAB.
Public engagement activities
Note all activities are free!
TREC in the City
Always wanted to play around with a microscope? Check out our pop-up stand! It’s free, you get to see invisible-to-the-naked-eye things, you can take pictures with some of our beautiful organisms, and you might even get lucky and go home with a small prize. Bring your buddies - or your kids - and experience something unique. We will be located at different places across the city, stay tuned here to discover our daily location!
- 🗓 26 - 27 March 2024 (12-17h) at 📍 Plaça de la Merçè
- 🗓 28 March 2024 (12-17h) at 📍 Font Màgica
- 🗓 30 March 2024 (12-14h) at 📍 Mercat de la Barceloneta
- ➡ No booking required
Run, scientist, run!
Come and play a giant Game of the Goose - the TREC edition! You will experience sudden successes and unforeseen challenges, like a scientist in the field. This is a simple game played with a roll of the dice: bring your family and friends and have fun while trying to be the first one to reach the end of the board. We will be located at different places across the city, stay tuned here to discover our daily location!
- 🗓 26 - 27 March 2024 (12-17h) at 📍 Plaça de la Merçè
- 🗓 28 March 2024 (12-17h) at 📍 Font Màgica
- 🗓 30 March 2024 (12-14h) at 📍 Mercat de la Barceloneta
- ➡ No booking required
Science on Tour
Join us for a fun, informal, and accessible evening during which scientists from across Europe come together to discuss with you! The key topic will be TREC, a one-of-a-kind research expedition that focuses on the connection between land and sea at European coastlines. The event will be in Spanish and questions are highly encouraged!
- 🗓 27 March 2024 at 19.00h
- 📍 Black Lab Brewhouse & Kitchen
- ➡ No booking required
Guided tours of the schooner Tara
Since 2023 the scientific schooner Tara has been sailing around the globe to study the biodiversity of the Ocean. We welcome you on board this mythical vessel for a 30 minute visit. You will learn about its history and the science we do on board.
- 🗓 29 & 30 March 2024
- 📍 Moll de Bosch i Alsina
- ➡ Book your visit
Observing the invisible inhabitants of the Ocean!
A workshop to discover an invisible world essential to life on Earth: the marine microbiome. Take a closer look at a sea water sample from Barcelona harbor, is anyone living here?
- 🗓 29 & 30 March 2024
- 📍 Moll de Bosch i Alsina
- ➡ No booking required
Plastic at sea, the solutions are on land
We hear a lot about plastic pollution at sea. Learn more about microplastics: What do they look like? Where do they come from? Come and play with us to explore actions and solutions you can adopt on land to make a difference at sea!
- 🗓 29 & 30 March 2024
- 📍 Moll de Bosch i Alsina
- ➡ No booking required
Do you know Antarctica? Find out how we investigate the oceans and the world's coldest continent
Would you like to know how we study the oceans and Antarctica? How do scientists live there? What kind of animals inhabit the region? Did you know that pollution also reaches Antarctica?
Come to the IDAEA booth in front of the Tara Oceans schooner and learn about Antarctica, the oceans, and the science we conduct to create a cleaner planet.
- 🗓 29 March 2024
- 📍Moll de Bosch i Alsina
- ➡ No booking required
Previous events
Tuesday 26 March 2024 - Visits to ICM, EMBL Advance Mobile Lab and schooner Tara in the same day!
A unique opportunity to visit all the mobile and local laboratories of the TREC expedition in Barcelona
During the TREC expedition, scientists travel on land and at sea with their mobile laboratories! They also need the help of larger institutions on land. During their tour of coastal Europe, there are very few opportunities when all the teams of scientists meet in one place. Luckily for you, for a very short time, they are all in Barcelona! Do not miss the opportunity to visit all the labs during a fun afternoon of discovery!
*Please note that the 3 visits need to be booked separately
Guided tours of the EMBL Advanced Mobile Lab
Ever heard of a lab on wheels?! Come and visit our mobile laboratory, which is travelling around the European coastline studying local biodiversity. In this lab, you’ll find the cutting-edge technology that is making new scientific knowledge possible. Meet the scientists, check out their favourite equipment, and see it for yourselves! Please note that the lab is only accessible via stairs.
- 🗓 26 March 2024 from 16.00 to 18.00h
- 📍 Behind the ICM, here!
- ➡ Book your visit
Guided tours of the schooner Tara
Since 2023 the scientific schooner Tara has been sailing around the globe to study the biodiversity of the Ocean. We welcome you on board this mythical vessel for a 30 minute visit. You will learn about its history and the science we do on board.
- 🗓 26 March 2024 from 14:30 to 17:00h
- 📍 Port Vel - Moll de Bosch i Alsina
- ➡ Book your visit
Guided tours of the ICM
The ICM is the only marine research center in Barcelona and one of the most important in the Mediterranean region. A team of more than 300 people is entirely dedicated to the study of the ocean from different disciplines (physics, chemistry, geology and biology) that give it a global vision of the marine ecosystem. Come meet us!
- 🗓 26 March 2024 from 16:00 to 18:00h
- 📍 Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49
- ➡ Book your visit