(Zaragoza, Tuesday, February 11, 2025). A total of 24 researchers from the five editions of the “I Am a Scientist. I Live in Your Neighborhood” campaign at the University of Zaragoza shared their passion and work this morning with 85 students: 40 from the public school María Moliner and 45 from Secondary and High School at IES Ramón y Cajal.
The Vice-Rector for Scientific Policy of the University of Zaragoza, Rosa Bolea, and the General Director of Universities from the Government of Aragón, Marisa Feijoó, welcomed the participants from both educational institutions and thanked the researchers for their participation in this “Breakfast with Scientists,” organized to commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11F). The event, held in the Amar y Borbón room at the Paraninfo, in collaboration with the Department of Employment, Science, and Universities, allowed students to engage in direct conversations with the researchers around 15 tables for over 90 minutes.
This activity also complements the roundtable discussions that the University of Zaragoza has organized tomorrow, Wednesday, in collaboration with the Ibercaja Patio de la Infanta Foundation (C/ San Ignacio de Loyola), to be held both in-person and online with nearly a thousand students from across Aragón. “Converse with our Scientists” will have two sessions: The first session for sixth-grade students (10:00-11:15) and the second for Secondary and High School students (12:00-13:15).
These events are part of the fifth edition of the “I Am a Scientist. I Live in Your Neighborhood” campaign by the University of Zaragoza, which has been set up on Gran Vía since Monday, February 10, and will run for a month, offering real role models to girls and adolescents while advocating for the role of women in science, breaking the gender gap, and providing relatable role models.
This campaign commemorates the 11F with large-format photographs of 11 researchers, taken outside of the lab while engaging in everyday activities, in order to provide real, accessible role models to the public, especially girls and adolescents. Additionally, it seeks to break stereotypes that depict female scientists as superheroes, geeks, or with little social life, which may discourage girls and adolescents from pursuing a potential scientific vocation.
This photographic exhibition, promoted by the Scientific Culture Unit at the University of Zaragoza, was initially launched in February 2021 to overcome the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with the Zaragoza City Council, the Government of Aragón, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) from the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, and, since this edition, with the support of the Ibercaja Foundation.
This year’s campaign has included the participation of the following scientists: Josefina Pérez-Arantegui, Chemist (IUCA, UNIZAR); Susana Cebrián Guajardo, Nuclear and Particle Physicist (CAPA, UNIZAR); Alicia Valero Delgado, Chemical Engineer (ENERGAIA, UNIZAR-CIRCE); Susana Onega Jaén, English Philologist (IEDIS, UNIZAR); Marta Mª Martínez Júlvez, Biochemist and Biophysicist (BIFI, UNIZAR); María Ángeles Latorre Górriz, Agronomist Engineer (IA2, UNIZAR-CITA); Elena Cerrada Lamuela, Chemist (ISQCH, mixed CSIC-UNIZAR); Irene Lucas del Pozo, Physicist (INMA, mixed CSIC-UNIZAR); Beatriz Rubio Serrano, Mathematician (IUMA, UNIZAR); Ascensión Hernández Martínez, Art Historian (IPH, UNIZAR); and Esther Pueyo Paules, Biomedical Engineer (I3A, UNIZAR). The photographs were taken by professional photographer Rocío Badiola, specialized in fashion and beauty photography at the national level, continuing the work of Marta Marco (2024), Chus Marchador (2023), and Fabián Simón (2021-2022).
