“Dones i ciència al Botànic” aims to make the work and research of female scientists more visible, foster access of women and children to scientific and technical fields, and reflect on the policies that should be enforced to face the long-standing problem of gender gap in the sectors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Make the contribution and the achievements of women visible, elicit current trends and the barriers that prevent access of women and girls to science, as well as look for the possible solutions are among the issues discussed during this cycle. The organizers intend to inspire current and future generations and promote integration of women into the world of science.

Admission to the events of “Dones i ciència al Botànic” is free of charge and subject to seat availability. Two conferences will take place in el Huerto de Tramoyeres hall, while the round table discussion and the documentary screening followed by the movie discussion will be held in Joan Plaça Auditorium (enter the building from Beat Gaspar Bono street).

PROGRAMME:

The cycle will start on Tuesday, 11th Februrary, at 19:00. The professor of botanics at the University of Alacant, Ana Juan, will present various perspectives of a career in sciences referring to her own recearch experience - from her first steps in sciences until the present - in a talk “Mom, I want to be a botanist”. Then, Carmen Agustín, a professor at the Universitat de València and a researcher, will deliver a speech “The Rett syndrome, a rare form of a female disease” and dwell upon this severe disorder of neural circuits which affects girls (boys are never born if affected by this disease) and the possibe therapeutic strategies that may be designed to combat it.

On Wednesday, 12th Februrary, Dolors Corella, a professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Universitat de València and a researcher at the center CIBERON, will explain the concept of precision nutrition in her talk “A woman in her personalized diet”. She will also give examples and analyze little attention that was paid towards the gender aspect of precision nutrition and suggest what we can do to change it. Then, M. Asunción Menargues, a professor of the didactics of science at the University of Alacant, will speak about the project “Science in accion for 21st century schools”. Various centers of primary education participate in this project to implement a new class methodology of teaching and learning sciences based on problem resolution and guided research.

“Gender gap in science: myths, prejudices, and stereotypes” is the title of the round table discussion which will take place on Thursday, 13th February. The participants will include Pas García Martínez, a professor of optics at the Universitat de València; Mónica Bolufer, a professor of modern history at the Universitat de València; Carla Sanchis, a professor of psychobiology at the Universitat Jaume I; and Anna Mateu, an editor-in-chief of the Mètode magazine. The journalist Kristin Suleng will be in charge of moderating the event.

On the last day of the cycle, Friday, 14th February, a documentary about the microbiologist Lynn Margulis Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis rock the boat and started a scientific revolution will be screened. This informative movie will be screened in the original language version with Spanish subtitles and in its shortened version lasting approximately 60 minutes. After the screening, the attendees will be engaged in a movie discussion with Juli Peretó, a researcher and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Universitat de València.

More information can be found here: www.jardibotanic.org