Emakumeak Zientzian, to benefit society as a whole
Twenty-four Basque organizations are joining forces around the Emakumeak Zientzian project, thus declaring their commitment to the objectives of the initiative: to make the activity of women in science visible, to break with the typically male roles attributed to scientific and technical work, and to encourage girls and adolescents to opt for scientific careers. With these objectives in mind, the organizations are coming together to run a joint program of activities to mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is celebrated every year on February 11.
This year the organizers also want to focus on the importance of going the extra mile to incorporate all the talent we have into the scientific-technological field, because that way the solutions to the great challenges we face as a society will come sooner. In this respect, “we want to emphasize that joint responsibility between women and men when it comes to promoting equal access and professional development for everyone is unavoidable”, said the organizers of Emakumeak Zientzian. So “we would like to make a special appeal and invite everyone, regardless of gender, identity, origin, profession or age to participate in the activities”, they added.
The Emakumeak Zientzian 2023 program will be focusing on the week from 8 to 17 February. A wide-ranging program of more than 50 activities and surprises covering various fields of research has been designed, and this has been made possible by different centers coming together, so that the message that 'science is girls' stuff’ reaches as many people as possible and sinks in. In this new edition, the geographical scope has also been extended thanks to the participation of organizations from Bizkaia, so that the program is spread across Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, mainly in the capital cities.
To gather momentum, this year’s Emakumeak Zientzian will be kicking off in a festive atmosphere on Wednesday, 8 February in Donostia-San Sebastian, where tribute will be paid to all the women scientists and technologists working in the organizations and research centers involved in the initiative. At the same event, and as a new departure, the Emakumeak Zientzian anthem, composed by the emerging artist and supporter of the cause Janus Lester, will be presented. A new anthem to provide the initiative with a lively rhythm, and also to reach out to new supporters so that responsibilities can be shared.
From that day onwards, in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, there will be engineering and nanoscience workshops for teenagers, round tables and visits to research centers for schools, plus a session on academic orientation for teachers, all with the aim of presenting actual models that will serve as a reference for future generations. As another new departure, we have added the Back to School activity to the existing school offer by which schools can request a visit from our researchers in-situ to their classrooms. Families can get to enjoy the following experimental workshops: Estrellas de la Ciencia (Science Stars) at the Eureka! Zientzia Museoa, the game El Tesoro de la Ciencia (Science Treasure) based on the well-known treasure hunt, or the amusing Scientific competitive activities, among other things. Likewise, specific groups, such as women over 55, will continue to be catered for in order to highlight the role of adult women as transmitters of culture, with the activity The power of experience, in which a series of short experiments that are easy to perform anywhere will be conducted, so that scientific culture flows into families and into our environments. In addition, for the general public, the Victoria Eugenia Club Aretoa and the Bidebarrieta Library in Bilbao will be hosting the event Women Scientists of Yesterday and Today, in which several women scientists working in different fields of research will take to the stage to tell us about the research projects they are working on and pay tribute to some of the great women scientists of history through the story of their fascinating lives and scientific contributions.
The full program of activities is available from today onwards on the website www.emakumeakzientzian.eus , and registrations for the various activities are already open.
The 24 organizations of the 7th edition of Emakumeak Zientzian are a significant representative sample of the Basque Country’s science and technology base: the Center for Materials Physics (CFM CSIC-UPV/EHU), Achúcarro, CIC biomaGUNE, CIC nanoGUNE, University of Deusto, POLYMAT, Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM), Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), Biodonostia, Ceit, Cidetec, Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Elhuyar, Eureka! Zientzia Museoa, Bizkaia Foundation for Biophysics (FBB), Ikerlan, Ingeniariak - Official Association of Industrial Engineers of Gipuzkoa, Technology Parks of the Basque Country, Tecnalia, Tecnun-Faculty of Engineering, the Faculties of Informatics, Engineering – Gipuzkoa, and Chemistry of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).
Emakumeak Zientzian 2023 has the substantial support of the Charter Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and Fomento San Sebastián, and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) as well as the collaboration of the following bodies and organizations: the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Spanish Research Agency through the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu centers as partners in the initiative, the Basque Film Library and the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival, and Aspegi (Association of Professional, Business and Managerial Women of Gipuzkoa), Aranzadi, the Lemniskata network, Ikerbasque, Biook and Donostia Kultura.