Science Week, packed with outreach activities for all audiences across Catalonia—and especially in Barcelona and the UAB Campus—has come to a close. ICMAB contributed over a dozen lectures and visits, the 'Quàntica i l’ICMAB' exhibition, and even a contest that will remain open until Monday, November 24.

At the Institute, Science Week kicked off on Tuesday, November 4, with a series of four visits open to the public and internal staff. These tours were conducted in Catalan and English and were led by Aleix Barrera, Anna Palau, Gervasi Herranz, Can Onur, Jamila Djafari, Jonathan de Tovar, and Xiaoming Liu.

Visit at the Quantum at ICMAB exhibition | ICMAB-CSIC 

A week later, on Tuesday the 11th, Anna Roig from the Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites (NN) group participated in the round table “Químiques i Científiques” (Women Chemists and Scientists), presented by Estela Giménez López. The panel also included Cristina Fillat Fonts, Carme Plasencia Castillo, Carmen Claver Cabrero, and Sílvia Osuna Oliveras.

From that Monday on, one could say nobody called Anna was at ICMAB: on Wednesday the 12th, Anna Laromaine, a researcher from the same NN group, gave a lecture to members of the Catalan Society of Biology (SCB)—a subsidiary of the Institute for Catalan Studies—at the Casa de la Convalescència. The talk was titled "The C. elegans model as a bridge between nanotechnology and biology." In it, she explained how they harness the nematode's potential as an experimental model to study the interaction between nanomaterials and biological systems, as well as to explore new applications in functional material design. You can watch the lecture on the SCB YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, Anna Crespi, along with Daniel Martín, visited the Casa de Sòria in Barcelona to demonstrate how pigments used in Romanesque art were produced using minerals as raw materials. This activity is the final one before the project LAB TOUR tours the Soria region. The project is supported by the collaboration of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología - Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.

Several researchers also took the opportunity to visit schools. Anna Palau, from the Nanoengineered Superconductors and Quantum Materials (SuperQMat) group, visited the La Salle institute in Manlleu to discuss superconductivity and quantum technologies, using materials she had developed for the 'Quàntica i l'ICMAB' exhibition. Anna Laromaine visited INS Baix Montseny to explain how health issues are addressed through materials science, and David Amabilino spoke with high school students from Liceu Politècnic de Barcelona about the chemistry of dyes and the world of research.

 NANOPTO researchers explaining their work to Institut Escola Mirades students | ICMAB-CSIC

And since if ICMAB doesn't go to the school, the school comes to ICMAB, the Institut Escola Mirades visited the 'Quàntica i l’ICMAB' exhibition. They delved into solar energy harvesting with organic materials thanks to Xavier Capella, Arianna Quesada, and Martín Francisco Martín from the NANOPTO group, as part of an ESCOLAB activity.

We would like to thank all the ICMAB staff who participated in these Science Week activities and invite anyone considering getting on board with our outreach efforts to ask us for more information at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Related links

• Science Week 2025: ICMAB activities to celebrate its 30th anniversary (ICMAB)
• Outreach talk "The Pigments of the Romanesque" for the Science Week (ICMAB)
• Visits to the "Quantum at ICMAB" exhibition (ICMAB)
• "Quàntica i l'ICMAB", exhibition inaugurated at ICMAB to celebrate the International Year of Quantum (ICMAB)