Scientists from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) in Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo will participate in the international festival for outreach Pint of Science, on the 14th, 15th and 16th of May, which will be simultaneously held in over 272 cities in 20 countries and which, on the four Castilla-La Mancha sites, will involve some thirty speakers, who will give talks on eight sites
The Castilla-La Mancha community has joined an event for the second year which, for the first time, will be held in Cuenca and which has the backing of the Vice-chancellor´s office for Research and Scientific Policy. The objective of the initiative which will be held in 57 Spanish cities is to provide "a meeting point among researchers and people in a setting conducive to relaxed conversation, with your favourite drink", explained the festival coordinator, Jorge Bueno.
In Albacete, #Pint18ALB will be held in the St Patricks bar and will include internet chats about various topics, artificial intelligence, virtual relationships, advertising influencers, chemophobia or genetic engineering. Driven by the Ciudad Real Association for Scientific Outreach and Critical Thinking, #Pint18CIR will take place in the Cafe Pub Living Room with speeches about the mechanisms for decision-taking, bio-hacking, application of scientific methods, nutrition, photochemistry or the sun, 20th Century explorers, coffee and chocolate for preventing illnesses and the evolutionary biology of sexual attraction.
In Cuenca, #Pint18CUE will be held in the Samsara, Hispano and Carpe Diem bars, with a talk which will pay homage to the actress and scientist Heddy Lamarr and another three talks about digital cyber delinquency, frontiers between science and belief and the evolution of museums. In Toledo, #Pint18TOL, organized by the group ‘Ciencia a la carta (Science a la carte)’, will be held at three sites (Círculo de Arte, Cigarral de las Mercedes and Buca Bar) and the group has proposed a talk about the relationship between weapons and status, a tour around green areas to identify trees and birds and various technological speeches about the existence of earthquakes on Mars or teledetection systems.
Worldwide event
The ‘Pint of Science 2018’, #Pint18ES, programme includes 308 events in Spain (16 % more than in 2017) protagonized by over 730 scientists (almost over 200 more than in the previous edition) in 105 bars. In a comprehensible and approachable language, women and men from science will explain their work to an audience which is a far cry from the scientific community, but which has ever-more interest in research and the latest news from science. Proof of this , as indicated by the national organization, is that in 2017, 17,500 people came to the 532 talks and the 750 attendants who answered the assessment survey, promised they would repeat and that the experience had been very positive. In Castilla-La Mancha, over 1,500 people participated in some of the proposals of "Pint of Science 2017".
This edition will be held in a total of 56 Spanish cities, 14 more than in 2017. Cuenca, together with Almería, Cádiz, Cartagena, Castro Urdiales, Huesca, Lleida, Lorca, Ourense, Sagunto, Segovia, Soria, Tarragona, Vigo and Zamora, have joined for the first time. In three of these, Tarragona, Valladolid and Almería, there will be interpretation in sign language (LSE/Spanish Sign Language). The organization is striving to broaden this programme to more cities.
With these additions, Spain and Brazil are the countries with most sites for "Pint of Science", followed by France (34) and the United Kingdom (32). The festival is international and will be held on the same dates in 272 cities in 20 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Oceania.
UCLM Communication Office Albacete, 7th of May 2018