As we announced a few weeks ago, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) joined the celebrations of February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This year, it once again organised two activities to give visibility to female researchers and inspire both children and adults. On the one hand, the Edit-a-thon called on volunteers to write Wikipedia with a feminist and scientific vision. On the other hand, the ‘What is science?’ talks invited female researchers to talk about science and their own research to children in pre-school and primary school.
Edit-a-thon 2025
After last year’s hiatus, the eighth edition of the Edit-a-thon brought together 13 people in person and 6 on Zoom to write and translate biographies of women in science. During the session, thirteen biographies were edited in Catalan, two in Spanish, one in English and one in Polish, and several wikidata entries were created. This involved the generation of around 90,000 bytes of new information with a gender perspective.
The session, which took place on the 11th from 5 to 7’30pm, was divided into two parts. During the first hour, Ester Bonet, head of Viquidones UPF, gave a master class on what Wikipedia is, how to create an account and how to edit Wikipedia. The rest of the time, the participants got down to work editing the biographies. They were accompanied by Ester and Toni Hermoso (Centre for Genomic Regulation, Amical Wikimedia) who were answering questions. Despite the concentration, there was a very good atmosphere that was reflected in the complicity of the attendees.
“What is Science?”
In the ‘What is science?’ initiative female researchers from PRBB centres are visiting pre-school and primary school classes to explain, in a simple and interactive way, what science is, how it is done, and, above all, who does it. During this month of February, 45 volunteers are going to more than 30 schools in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and are breaking stereotypes about how a scientist works.
The researchers have adapted the general activity proposed by the Park to the topics of study of the classes or to be able to talk about their specific research. “Why do we sleep?”, “How does the brain work?” or “Why do we get sick?” were some of the questions answered by the researchers who have already taken part. The children were also able to carry out experiments. For example, using Petri dishes, they created a culture of the micro-organisms that were on their hands, both clean and after they had been dipped in sand. Another group read secret messages in invisible ink, only revealed with a turmeric solution.
The initiative has had a very good response from both the researchers and the schools, who have shared their experiences on social media. Some children have even asked for autographs!
