Carmen Calderer Torrescassana, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota who was born in the Berga area, will give the opening address on mathematics in the 21st century, under the title “Les matemàtiques del segle xxi: de la simulació de les galàxies a la medicina virtual”. Those invited to attend are students at secondary and upper-secondary level and students enrolled on higher vocational training programmes, from the administrative districts of Bages, Barcelonès, Berguedà and Osona.
The Fair is organized by the Exploratori de Recursos de la Natura (Natural Resources Exploratory), an initiative led by the UB and the UPC within the framework of the campus of international excellence Barcelona Knowledge Campus (BKC), with the participation of the Berga Town Council and the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education. The fundamental aim of the event is to encourage secondary students to take a vocational interest in science and technology and to instil a passion for learning through research. The initiative will also contribute to the general development of the Berguedà region, which has an ample supply of natural resources with which to work.
Showcasing innovative research projects
The inaugural edition of the Knowledge Fair will comprise talks and activities related to research in general and to the specific scientific and technological advances generated by the departments, institutes and research centres of the UB and the UPC. The work presented will cover a broad range of disciplines and applications, from natural resources to the latest developments in the field of biomedicine. The selected projects will be showcased at nine stands.
Representing the UB will be the stand “Biología y Ecología Evolutivas de los Tetrápodos. Aplicaciones a la Conservación (Herpetología)”, which focuses on the role of amphibians as indicator organisms. The UB will also have a Cryptogamy stand, presenting work on lichens as indicator organisms, and a stand on Stratigraphy, Palentology and Marine Geosciences, named “Geociencias marinas, la exploración de la última frontera: las hondonadas oceánicas, en Cataluña y otros lugares”. The area presented by the Research Group on Chemical Waters (GRAQ) will focus on new technologies in the field of water treatment.
The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), which is affiliated to the UPC, will have a special display area titled “La luz, una herramienta para todo”. The UPC itself will be represented at the event by its Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (CREB), which will have a stand on engineering for health; the Gas and Odour Treatment Group (TRAGASOL), whose area is “Microorganismos eficientes x olores desagradables = Investigación en procesos biotecnológicos”; the textile and paper research groups TEXTECH and CELBIOTECH, which will present their work in a shared space titled “Hacemos investigación e innovación”; and the Department of Mining Engineering and Natural Resources, whose stand focuses on subsoil geophysics.
The Fair will also include talks on the ʻpolytechnic spiritʼ (“Esperit politècnic: exemple en una singladura transatlàntica”) and the periodic table (“Taula periòdica: de la natura a les aplicacions”), to be given by Josep Font and Dolors Grau, respectively, both of whom are lecturers at the UPCʼs Department of Mining Resources Engineering and Natural Resources, and the exhibition “¿Dónde está la química?”, which marks the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry.
