From April, the IRBLleida will hold scientific workshops in the county capitals of Lleida to bring research closer to the population

Les Borges Blanques, Balaguer, Tàrrega, Cervera, Mollerussa, Solsona, el Pont de Suert, la Seu d'Urgell, Sort, Vielha and Tremp will host scientific workshops organised by researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Research of Lleida (IRBLleida) with the aim of bringing research closer to the population and children. Starting in April, researchers from IRBLleida will organise two workshops on Saturday mornings once a month in a county town in the province of Lleida.

This project is supported by the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació - FCRI (Joan Oró 2023 Call), with a budget of €11,000. "These initiatives are necessary for research to be visible in all the municipalities of the territory" explained one of the researchers leading the project, Sara Salvany, who is from Les Borges Blanques, the first municipality to be visited by the 'IRBLleida en route' project.

"Often children do not have references close to them who are engaged in research and we believe that this project will be useful to awaken their interest and even awaken scientific vocations," said another of the researchers of the initiative, Sílvia Gras.

IRBLleida en route' is a project to improve territorial inequality in the province of Lleida and to bring biomedical research closer to the 11 county capitals of the province. The proposal aims to bring scientific dissemination to rural areas by combining the practical application of the scientific method with the promotion of the exchange of ideas and teamwork.

The objectives of the project are:

• To bring biomedical research closer to a family audience in county capitals.
• To alleviate the differences in opportunities for approaching science between schoolchildren in rural and urban areas.
• To present science as an attractive field for the promotion of future scientific vocations.
• To offer scientific content that comes from reliable sources and is based on scientific evidence.

The activity will have a first explanatory part in which the professionals will explain in an informative way what research is, the IRBLleida and the importance of the scientific method. From here, two different workshops will take place, which will vary. The workshops are designed for a family audience of children from 5 to 12 years old accompanied by adults. Workshops such as 'Take the DNA of your fruit home' or 'Find out what an X-ray is'.

The project team is currently working on the schedule and locations of the workshops.