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The Barcelona Science Park hosts the ‘Youth Science Parliament’

By 19 de May de 2010November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 19.05.2010

The Barcelona Science Park hosts the ‘Youth Science Parliament’

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 20, and Friday, May 21, 60 Catalan students between the ages of 15 and 19 will participate in the Youth Science Parliament in Catalonia, a European initiative coordinated by Talència, the new entity for research promotion and recognition promoted by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The first session will take place in the Barcelona Science Park, and the second one in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Over the course of these two days, the students and a group of scientists will engage in a debate concerning four issues with broad social future significance.

The functioning structure of the Youth Science Parliament mirrors parliamentary dynamics with auditions, committees, proposals, votes and final decisions. The initiative is part of the 2 WAYS European project: Communicating Life Science Research, coordinated by Talència. Once it has been finalized, two representatives will be selected to participate in two final European editions, together with young people from other countries, in the European Parliament, on November 30 and December 1 in Brussels (Belgium).

The 60 students belong to 15 schools throughout Spain and have undergone prior preparation under the guidance of their their teachers. The four topics to be discussed –each one of them coordinated by a scientist with expertise on the matter at hand- are the use of stem cells, the use of genetic testing results, the influence of genes on violent behavior and personalized medicine based on the data provided by DNA analysis.

The scientists who will moderate each session are: Begoña Aran, researcher at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB); Virginia Nunes, of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-IRO-Bellvitge), Antonio Barbadilla, of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and Ignacio Morgado, researcher at the Neuroscience Institute of the Department of Psychobiology and Methodology of Health Sciences of the UAB.