Me and Myself |

'Accessible Zaragoza' at Pint of Science 2018

Wed, 16 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Let me propose an exercise: close your eyes for a moment and imagine a person devoted to science and research. Almost certainly, you may have visualized a middle-aged man in a white robe and glasses who is doing “things” in a laboratory or in front of a computer, probably to solve a problem related to health, the environment or making a process more efficient. If I have “read your mind” it is not because you are a predictable person, but because that is (with small variations) the most frequent image about scientists. Unfortunately, this view reflects some prejudices (such as gender¹ and thinking that sciences are always applied sciences² and limited to what is usually known as “natural sciences”³) and also evidence that the tasks that a scientific person does are incomprehensible to most people and, therefore, are a complete mystery.

It is precisely to bridge this disconnect between society and science that the initiative was born in 2012. Ever since, it has spread from the United Kingdom to 21 countries on all continents (except ). The idea behind Pint of Science is as simple as it is effective: to convert pubs into meeting points between science and society. To this end, for three days in a row, a festival is organised in several pubs from different cities and countries in which scientists explain their work to the audience for about 15 minutes, followed by a debate watered by the omnipresent beers that populate the majority of pubs worldwide (hence its name). There is also the funny case that some of the people attending the festival are totally unaware of the existence of the festival.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, because this year I participated as a speaker in the Zaragoza edition together with my colleague and friend Miguel Sevilla-Callejo to tell about the project of which , , with the talk we titled “About chairs, chairs, kerbs and traffic lights. #zaccessibility for improving the mobility of people with functional diversity” that you can see .

ESTA TARDE 19h en @harlem_zaragoza no te pierdas sesiones sobre #geografía #mapas #accesibilidad #diversidadfuncional. @carlescamara
y @msevilla00 hablarán sobre #zaccesibilidad #Pint18ES #Pint18ZGZ @pintofscienceES cc @ZGZActiva @Geografia_UZ @ArquitecturaUSJ pic.twitter.com/aAV4WG9Rq0
— Mapeado Colaborativo / Geoinquietos Zaragoza (@MapColabora) May 14, 2018

Our talk was one of the three of the session titled “ ” that took place on Monday, May 14 at the and in which also participated , from the Colegio de Geógrafos de Aragón, and , member of Aragonese parliament.

Lujazo de ponentes en el Harlem! #Pint18ES #pint18zgz #ParalaPoSteridad Y mañana más, a partir de las 19.00! pic.twitter.com/0n3Sve6GEo

— Silvi 🤷🤦🏽‍♀️ (@sylviezgz) May 14, 2018

Rafa talked about the work that geographers do and the importance of geography to understand and explain phenomena of all kinds and that have to do with how we perceive and relate to the world and its physical environment, using an endless number of curious maps.

Queréis saber para qué sirve la geografía en nuestro día a día? Pues pasaros por el Harlem, pero daros prisa, que ya ha empezado! #Pint18ES #pint18zgz #ParalaPoSteridad pic.twitter.com/YkdEx0zc8v

— Silvi 🤷🤦🏽‍♀️ (@sylviezgz) May 14, 2018

In his entertaining talk entitled “Nobody’s perfect: I have no arms”, Raúl recounted his personal experience in order to raise awareness of how the daily life of a person with a disability can be but, above all, in order to break taboos about disability. All of that with a great mixture of humour, rawness and tenderness.

En la segunda charla en el Harlem, @viajeroaitaca_ nos ha hablado sobre "discapacidad, quirófanos y demás cosas divertidas" #Pint18ES #pint18zgz #ParalaPoSteridad pic.twitter.com/15cS3OqbKH

— Silvi 🤷🤦🏽‍♀️ (@sylviezgz) May 14, 2018

Finally, Miguel and I explained the need for a map like the one we are developing on urban accessibility and the opportunity to do it collaboratively using not only to denounce, but to co-responsibility of citizenship and contribute to improving the autonomy of people with functional diversity.

Mapeado colaborativo en la sesión de retrones y satélites 🛰 #pint18ZGZ Aúpa con esta gran iniciativa de @MapColabora by @carlescamara @msevilla00 et al. pic.twitter.com/PRkmgosF6x
— Rafa 🌐 (@Galactero) May 14, 2018

Buenas noticias! Todos podemos mapear! Nos lo cuentan @carlescamara y @msevilla00 de @MapColabora en el Harlem #Pint18ES #pint18zgz #ParalaPoSteridad pic.twitter.com/IEgtlYQYcb

— Silvi 🤷🤦🏽‍♀️ (@sylviezgz) May 14, 2018

The experience was unbeatable, both for the interesting and complementary previous talks, and for the organization of the event through the association that organizes Pint of science (thanks in particular to Carlos, Juan and Silvia for their work), but especially for the reception of the public, which lent itself to an interesting debate that lasted until the closing time of the bar.

According to the report “ ” elaborated in 2015 by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, the number of women researchers was quantified, for that year, in 38% of the total number of researchers. That figure shows that women are not an exception in research, although it is true that there is still a lot of room for improvement (especially if we asess the positions that these researchers occupy, but that is out of the scope of this text) and therefore campaigns such as those that are becoming habitual to attract women towards careers of the calls (Science, Technology, Enginery and Mathematics). ↩︎
Applied sciences are those that are oriented to apply scientific knowledge of one or more specialized areas of science to solve practical problems. Given their “applicability,” that is, their ability to solve very specific problems, they tend to be easier to explain and understand and, therefore, tend to receive greater attention from society, as well as more funding. In contrast to this type of science is the basic science, that is to say that scientific research that is carried out to increase knowledge, without having an immediate practical purpose. Since this type of research does not offer immediate (social, economic …) benefits, it is usually considered unnecessary because it is a mere exercise in curiosity. The reality, however, is that the benefits of this type of research are obtained in the longer term, since it is what allows the creation of new knowledge on which applied science can now be based. ↩︎
It is often forgotten that, in addition to natural sciences, there are social sciences, aimed at studying society and human behavior, which include disciplines as varied as sociology, anthropology, political science, geography, history .. and even those related to language such as linguistics (which often do not relate at all to research), amongst others. ↩︎

IND+I Science award to Metropolitan Innovation Policies

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Although it had officially been announced several days ago, the ¹ awards ceremony took place yesterday, where I received the prize of the category “Metropolitan innovation policies” for my .

El guanyador del Premi Polítiques d'innovació metropolitanes és @carlescamara. El proper 8/02 t'explicarà el seu treball de recerca al CERC @diba. Inscripcions a https://t.co/ehFTblO9q4 #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/VhQQApZTWf
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 5, 2018

The rest of the awards were for:

Sustainable Cities Agenda category: awarded ex-aequo to (UB) for his research “The impact of socioeconomic characteristics on CO2 emissions associated with urban mobility: inequality across individuals “ and to (UAB) for his research “Designing a Social Robot for a Children’s Hospital. Caring responsibilities of Technological Design in sustainable cities “
Innovation and Industry category, awarded to (UAB i University of Aveiro) for her research “Universities in Innovation Policy-Design: a review of the participation of external actors in the policy process for the creation of public value “
Green Industry category, awarded to (URV) for her research “Eco-strategies and firm growth in SMEs: EU15 and new EU membres “
Metropolitan innovation policies, awarded to Carlos Cámara Menoyo (UOC) for research “Urban commons: lessons from Barcelona at the beginning of 21st century “²

Aquí tenim els guanyadors de la primera edició del IND+I Science #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/iRLjfYnS40
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 8, 2018

During the perfectly organized event, each of the winners was able to briefly present their research, grouped into two blocks, which gave way to two very interesting debates although, as always happens to me in these cases, I had the feeling that they were too brief.

Carlos Cámara presenta el seu treball sobre comuns urbans aplicats al cas de Barcelona, que li ha valgut el premi IND+I Science sobre polítiques d'innovació metropolitanes #fentlindi pic.twitter.com/Dit0l656Z0
— David Rodríguez (@davidpemb) February 8, 2018

The event served not only to know the other four winners of the other categories and their research (as a tasting) but also to encourage interesting debates and even networking. All very much in line with IND+I’s transfer objectives.

That is why I can only thank the IND+I Science team for several reasons. Firstly, for contributing with prizes and events like this to make science come out of offices and laboratories, reach the general public and, hopefully, can even be applied. Secondly,as Núria Vallès rightly pointed out, because it is a pleasure to see how the work we have been doing for years and which, is very often solitary, raises certain interest for someone. Thirdly, for contributing financially to the promotion of scientific research, which in recent years has suffered significant cuts. Personally, also for giving me the opportunity to make my research known and to meet the other four winners of the other categories and their research. All very much in line with IND+I’s transfer objectives. Last but not least, for the organisation and the care with which we have been treated at all times.

I also take this opportunity to extend my thanks to the members of the PEMB, not only for sponsoring the prize in my category, but also because they were always very interested in my work and its dissemination. I hope to meet you again soon.

El premi IND+I Science “polítiques d'innovació metropolitana” patrocinat pel PEMB ha recaigut en @carlescamara de @UOCuniversitat pel seu treball sobre “comuns urbans” i com incideixen en la ciutat @INDI_viladecans @pacteindustrial per saber-ne més 👇https://t.co/8I7eDgjulQ
— Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona (PEMB) (@pembarcelona) February 8, 2018

Without further ado, I’ll leave you some tweets that summarize part of the intervention and the debate.

El @carlescamara s'ha centrat en els comuns urbans, els més vinculats a les ciutats, agents clau a les crisis. Entendre que són, problematitzar-los i veure quines potencialitats i limitacions tenen per produir noves ciutats o entorns #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/lOxTNYtW3U
— IND+I (@INDI_viladecans) February 8, 2018

"Sense les comunitats i les persones que hi ha al darrere no es podria parlar de comuns urbans.Són les qui decideixen com s'organitzen per gestionar comunitàriament un determinat recurs"explica @carlescamara (@UOCciudad), un dels guardonats amb els Premis IND+I Science #FENTLINDI pic.twitter.com/McInCdxaQC
— Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona (PEMB) (@pembarcelona) February 8, 2018

is an initiative to promote scientific research and innovation promoted by the the , the , the and the ↩︎
More information on research at . ↩︎