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Training and Awareness

Training and AwarenessTraining and Awareness

'My Life in Science' seminar series
Intervals programme (PRBB training)
Unconscious bias training for panel members
Career development
Girls for Science
Sex and Gender Dimension in Science

'My Life in Science' seminar series

The speakers in this seminar series are inspiring role models for the scientist working at the CRG. They not only share their science but also their experiences and career stories as well as their thoughts on gender and equality in science.

PRBB Intervals programme (PRBB training)

The PRBB Intervals programme is an interdisciplinary education programme for professionals working in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB).

The culture and practice of science today is demanding and stressful, and rarely allows an opportunity for quiet reflection and dialogue. Apart from their research work, today’s busy scientists are engulfed in a constant pursuit of grants, publications and conference presentations.

Although scientists are passionate about science, the current pressured climate gives them few chances to participate in multi-disciplinary discussions about the meaning and implications of their work within the context of the scientific enterprise and wider society. Equally, scientists’ careers follow paths that prioritise acquiring scientific and technical expertise but give little attention to broader career skills, such as leadership, communication, self-management and team work.

It was the awareness of these constraints that led senior scientists, educators and managers in all the PRBB Institutions, to support the development of the PRBB Intervals Programme - an innovative training initiative that aims to break down disciplinary barriers and bridge learning gaps. For more information and to register please see http://intervals.prbb.org

Girls for Science

Ada Lovelace workshops


Ada Lovelace, the mother of programming.(Alfred Edward Chalon [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Born in 1815, Ada Lovelace collaborated with inventor Charles Babbage on the Analytical Engine, a general purpose computing machine. Lovelace wrote a computer program to generate Bernoulli Numbers. It is recognised as the first algorithm to be processed by a machine, therefore she is considered the mother of programming.

Every year on the second Tuesday of October, the Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) is celebrated worldwide. ALD activities aim to raise awareness on the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and to encourage more girls into STEM careers.

CRG joined the ALD movement on 2017 by offering a programming workshop for high school students of 15-17 years old. The idea was born on the Gender Balance committee and organized by PhD students to engage girls into (bio)informatics sciences, prior to their enrolment on higher education studies. Offered to both boys and girls, the workshop also sparks the awareness of attendants on gender equality issues.

During the activity, the students learn the basic concepts behind programming with Scratch, a very simple programming language. Then they use Python, a real programming language, to study a clinical case. They search for particular genetic mutations in the sequences of a family with a case of motor and mental disorder.

The workshop is followed by a round-table discussion with senior scientists who explain their career paths and their experience on the scientific community from the gender perspective. 

After great feedback on the first and second editions, CRG has incorporated the activity in its annual portfolio of outreaching activities.

For more information on the first edition of the workshop, read the article of La Vanguardia

(Written by: Nieves Lorenzo Gotor, organiser of the workshop, together with the Public Engagement & Science Education area of the Communications & PR Dept. at the CRG).


[From left to right:] Organizer and teachers of the Ada Lovelace workshop at CRG. (Nieves Lorenzo Gotor, Laura Domènech Salgado, Claudia Vivori, Caterina Coli, Fernando Cid Samper).
Students of the third edition of the Ada Lovelace workshop at CRG.

Sex and Gender Dimension in Science

Sex and gender are two potentially critical factors of experimental design. In male and female cells or organisms strong differences can be obtained for behaviour and responses even on the molecular level. In the past, this has often been overlooked and neglected, resulting in the reporting of data that either has not been segregated for sex and gender or is representative for only one sex. In the LIBRA project training material has been produced that is now used at the CRG for training researchers, especially PhD students.

LIBRA training material for SGR: https://www.eu-libra.eu/work-packages/integrate-sex-gender-dimension-research