Last Friday 30 September “The European Researchers’ Night” was concluded.

On Friday, 30 September the annual event of science "The European Researchers' Night" was held simultaneously in 250 European cities. IMDEA Water participated in five activities, 4 workshops at the Royal Botanic Garden Juan Carlos I of Alcalá de Henares and other in the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid with other Institutes IMDEAs (Materials, Nanoscience, Software, Food, Energy and Networks).

During the workshop "The water below your feet: aquifers and underground caves", an aquifer was recreated and the assistants learned how the human activities affect to groundwater quality and to their associated ecosystems. They also learned the importance of groundwater as a source of drinking water. The attendees used stereomicroscopes to discover the most representative organisms inhabiting these waters. The entire workshop was held in a recreated cave to enable the children to experiment how it feels inside a cave.

In the activity “How do we use the energy from the sun?” were showed three different uses of the solar energy: thermal solar energy, photovoltaic solar energy and solar disinfection. Throughout a solar kitchen, children learned one of the uses of termal solar energy, while solar toys helped them to understand the photovoltaic solar energy. Bacteria bears and other games approached them to the world of microbes in the water and how is their elimination process using solar radiation.

EThe workshop “Super-microbes from freshwater” allowed attendees to approach to the life presented in the water throughout a microscope, and know how the most common freshwater microorganisms look like through photographs and 3D impressions. The children helped to collect water samples from the lagoon of the Royal Botanic Gardens UAH to identify the microorganisms that inhabit it using a microscope. Our researchers used a short video filmed by themselves to explain how are performed the experiments Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins group of IMDEA Water. The video ended with 3D images of some bacteria. 

“Desalination world: hand-made and recycled membranes” was the fourth workshop in which different concepts and techniques of the osmosis processes and reverse osmosis processes, were explained through experiments with eggs. Attendees also made their own membranes and learned about their recyclability in a simple and practical way.

In the fifth activity, “Sporty Science or "Sciencefull" Sport”, IMDEA Water participated in collaboration with other IMDEA institutes. This activity consisted in a conference in which each researcher explained their scientific activity, how this activity was influenced by the relationship the reseracher has with the sport and also, how their research can influence to sports. Attendees saw the work of researchers in the field of water and the impact it has in daily life.

This project of the European Researchers' Night in Madrid 2016 is funded by the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Commission. Directorate General for Education and Culture. European Commission under the Grant Agreement number 721631.