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The awards ceremony was broadcast in streaming from the PCB's Antoni Caparrós Auditorium (Photo: Novartis).
 28.01.2021

Novartis, Big Van Ciencia and the Barcelona Science Park announce the winners of “Reimagina la Ciencia”

The schools Nou Patufet (Barcelona), Escola Pia (Granollers), Sagrada Família (Gavà) and Col·legi Sant Gabriel (Viladecans) are the awarded centers in the first edition of the “Reimagina la Ciencia” programme, a collaborative initiative between Novartis, Big Van Ciencia and the Barcelona Science Park, in which more than 300 students have participated. The project, aimed to foster scientific curiosity among teachers and young people through of new work methodologies, has succeeded in becoming part of the curriculum at the participating schools.

Novartis, Big Van Ciencia and the Barcelona Science Park have announced the 5 award projects for the first edition of Reimagina la Ciencia: Ensayos Clínicos, investigación y desarrollo de medicamentos, an innovative programme aimed at students from Baccalaureate of Catalan institutes to promote interest in science among teenagers, making scientific knowledge more approachable so that they can reimagine science themselves.

In compliance with health recommendations, the 15 programme finalists participated in a virtual event, streamed from the Parc Científic de Barcelona Antoni Caparrós Auditorium, that combined live monologues with the screening of the award-winning videos. These following schools and their projects received their award-winning diplomas:

• Nou Patufet: Clinical Development for the Marketing of a Medicine.
• Escola Pia Granollers: The Magic of Medicine.
• Escola Pia Granollers: Testing clinical responses.
• Colegio Sagrada Familia de Gavá: Clinical Trials.
• Colegio Sant Gabriel de Viladecans: The solution.

With the aim of bringing science closer to the classroom and awakening the interest of young people in a ground-breaking and dynamic way, the Reimagina la Ciencia programme has managed to get secondary and high school students to immerse themselves in scientific content such as clinical trials, research and drug development and demonstrate their learning through a competition based on humorous monologues, songs, animated videos, dramatised sketches or flash-movies.

Methodology and the selection of candidates

The first phase of the programme offered training in clinical trials to secondary and A-level school teachers as a way of introducing schools to scientific knowledge, a learning process that also favoured the knowledge of eLearning tools and the performing arts so that they could subsequently use it in the classroom and with their students, who, in turn, would create a video through a stage performance to explain the content learned in the most creative and disruptive way possible.

After a pre-selection of 15 finalists out of 82 videos received, in which more than 300 students participated, a jury made up of clinical research professionals from Novartis and the PCB, plus members from the world of communication and the performing arts, selected the five winners during the Reimagina la Ciencia final gala, rewarding aspects such as the content of the videos received, the clarity of the message, the exposure of the students and the charisma of the participants.

As stated by Javier Malpesa, head of Clinical Research at Novartis: ‘the first Reimagina la Ciencia edition has demonstrated the talent and incredible potential of the new generations and that making a commitment to them is making a commitment to the future of research in our country. The programme connects directly with our values and with our purpose of re-imagining medicine and we hope to continue adding value to society with projects so enriching and exciting in every way, like this one’.

According, Maria Terrades, CEO of the Barcelona Science Park: ‘the aim of the Park to bring science closer to society finds part of its mission fully accomplished, that is, bringing science into the classroom to awaken the interest of young people in the hopes that some take a path that will end up leading them to the laboratory to do research’.

Given the good acceptance of Reimagina la Ciencia by the participating schools, the initiative aims to keep going in 2021 and continue bringing science closer to young people.

 

PCB