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 11.02.2026

Born or Made? Celebrating Women and Girls in Science

On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we asked the same question to five scientists from different entities at the Barcelona Science Park. Their answers, diverse yet complementary, reflect the true spirit of science: curiosity, creativity, and the drive to make the world a better place. These reflections come at a crucial moment, when it is more important than ever to promote female role models in science, create real opportunities, and build inclusive and structurally equitable environments to inspire scientific vocations among future generations.

The Barcelona Science Park reaffirms its commitment to supporting and promoting female scientific talent, considering it essential to advance toward more diverse, equitable, and excellent research. This commitment is reflected in actions and programs that connect the world of research with education and society at large.

RESSÒ – Research in Society: Turning Interest into Vocation

One of the cornerstones of this commitment is the program RESSÒ – Recerca en Societat, launched by the Barcelona Science Park (PCB-UB) in 2002 to inspire scientific vocations among students and foster critical thinking from an early age.

RESSÒ brings students closer to active scientists, allowing them to interact directly with research and understand how work is conducted in laboratories and research centres. Each year, the program organizes over a hundred activities, reaching more than 7,000 students aged 10 to 18 from schools across Catalonia. It also involves the active participation of over 15 research centres and more than 100 researchers engaged in organizing and facilitating the activities.

The RESSÒ strategy not only aims to bring science into the classroom, but also to make it relevant and inspiring, so that a girl’s or boy’s interest in science can develop into a genuine vocation for a research career. This approach has helped foster scientific curiosity in thousands of students and build a bridge between academic research and society.