Express-Arte ConCiencia is a multidisciplinary contest convened by the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), a mixed centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Valencia, through the Meitner Project, which has the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) – Ministry of Science and Innovation, which combines science, arts and humanities. The deadline for submitting originals is March 15, 2023.

The contest has two past editions in which around 200 works by students from all over the national territory have been presented. To participate in this edition, the contestants must make an original artistic work, in video, image or text format, about a pioneer in the field of astrophysics, nuclear physics or particle physics. Participation in the contest can be in a group or individually, but always under the supervision of a teacher from their educational centre.

Three prizes of €500 will be awarded, one per category (text, image and video). The contest rules and additional information can be found on the Meitner Project website, as well as the registration documentation that contestants must fill out to participate.

Today there will also be the presentation of the #MagnIFICa mentoring program aimed at undergraduate and master’s female students in physics at the University of Valencia, an activity that has been very well received by them in which they will get to know first-hand how it is the day-to-day life of IFIC researchers and will serve to generate new links between women experts and Nobel Prize winners in physics.

Meitner Project, an initiative to give a voice to those female scientists who were silenced

“Meitner Project. Remembering Lise Meitner” has as its main objective to recover, revalue and make visible the contribution of the great pioneers of Nuclear and Particle Physics through the figure of Lise Meitner. The play that tells the story of her great discovery, nuclear fission, and which premiered during the first edition of the project, is being performed again. This time it will be at Teatro L’Agrícola in Alboraya (Valencia). There will be two morning sessions on March 2 and 3 for educational centres and two evening sessions on March 3 and 4 for the general public. In addition, the session on day 3 will also be offered adapted for the blind public.

With all this, this initiative promotes social equality, fosters scientific vocations and highlights the barriers that women scientists have faced throughout history. Over the next few months, all the activities that are included in the framework of this project will be carried out, such as the Science and Gender conferences, the MagnIFICA mentoring program, the workshops and, at the end of the competition, the exhibition of the selected works.