The Barcelona Science Park, through its science outreach program RESSÒ, has once again joined the activities of the European Researchers’ Night in Catalonia, an event that brings science closer to society and is celebrated simultaneously in over 300 cities across Europe. In this edition, five secondary schools and vocational training centres in Barcelona brought together 130 students to visit the Park’s facilities and equipment, where they had the opportunity to get a close look at how a research, innovation, and technology transfer ecosystem operates—one that they too may become a part of in the future.

On the morning of September 26, the students participated in a guided tour that allowed them to discover how research is conducted in a laboratory for the development of new medicines, as well as to explore emerging fields driven by new technologies, such as bioinformatics.

During the visit, they toured the Drosophila fly room at the PCB and the Structural Characterization of Macromolecular Assemblies laboratory at IRB Barcelona, led by researcher María Macías. In addition, the team from the Biomedical Genomics laboratory, headed by researcher Núria López-Bigas, also joined the activity through a small game designed to explain bioinformatics.

The RESSÒ – Research in Society program, promoted by the Barcelona Science Park, has been committed to science outreach for over 20 years, particularly among young people, with the aim of inspiring vocations and fostering critical thinking. Thanks to the involvement of researchers from the centres hosted at the Park, RESSÒ organizes more than 100 activities each year, engaging over 7,000 students from across Catalonia. The program also seeks to energize the research ecosystem, with many of these activities involving institutions and companies located within the Park.

The European Researchers’ Night is a science outreach project promoted by the Horizon Europe research and innovation program of the European Union. In Catalonia, it is organized by the Catalan Association for Scientific Communication, the Jaume Bofill Foundation, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Barcelona, the University of Lleida, the Rovira i Virgili University, the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia, and the University of Girona.