Outreach

Outreach

Core Team

  • lourdes@iaa.es
  • Dpto. Astronomía Extragaláctica
    Instituto Astrofísica Andalucía
    Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n
    18008 Granada
    Spain

Outreach activities

Since the beginning of my career, I have been involved in activities to communicate science to the public. In recent decades, I have focused on communicating the relevance of the SKA project and on activities related to equality, diversity, and sustainability. This includes, among others:

  • Panels and round tables on equality and diversity within the framework of the African-European Radio Astronomy Platform (AERAP), the Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Summit, and the invitation from CSIC as a panelist in the "Talk with female researchers on gender perspective in international R&D" for International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
  • Production and participation in an animated video and a documentary, both for the dissemination of two European projects.
  • Public outreach publications, highlighting an article on "The SKA Radio Telescope" featured on the cover of Astronomía magazine, the oldest astronomy outreach magazine in Spanish, and an invited review article "Colliding Galaxies" in the Spanish edition of Scientific American.
  • Interviews on radio and in the press, nationally highlighted by an interview for Radio Nacional in "A hombros de gigantes", programs on Canal Sur, as well as podcasts. Contact, the SKA magazine, published an article about my career, as part of interviews with prominent women to promote STEM vocations.
  • Outreach talks at events such as Desgranando Ciencia, European Researchers' Night, meetings of astronomical associations, and the CSIC's Vive la Ciencia cycle. I do not list here the numerous talks given to school students during their visits to the IAA over several years.
 

PANELS AND ROUND TABLES

  • Cineforum “Picture a Scientist”.IAA (Granada). 2022
  • Conference “Leaders In Tech”. 2022
  • Round table: “Session of National and International Observatories”.VII Encuentro RIA-Tec2Space: Astronomical Instrumentation in Spain. 2022
  • Policy Recommendations for Gender Equality.Science Summit at 76th United Nations General Assembly. 2021
  • Africa-Europe Women in Science and Innovation: How to Build New Policy Frameworks for Sustained Cooperation.Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Summit. 2021
  • Round table “Talk with Female Researchers on Gender Perspective in International R&D” organized by CSIC. 2021
  • SKAO High Level Dialogue session.Encontro Com A Ciência e Tecnologia em Portugal. 2021
  • Inclusiveness and Women in Science.A New Era for Africa-EU Science and Innovation Partnerships. 2020
  • Organizer and speaker in the panel: Is the current measure of excellence perverting science? A data deluge is coming; it is time to act.EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) 2018, Toulouse (France). 2018
  • Invited to the forum Conference on Innovation for Poverty Alleviation.Brussels, September 2012.
  • Invited to the AERAP workshop on “Human Capital Development – Researcher Mobility and Training Programmes: opportunities for African-European radio astronomy partnerships”.South African Mission to the EU, Brussels, September 2012.

PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTARIES AND VIDEOS

  • Video about the ESCAPE H2020 project. Producer and one of the scriptwriters of this outreach video for the European Researchers’ Night.
  • Documentary: Biostirling – A New Power Generation. Our IAA team was in charge of the communication and outreach activities for the European project Biostirling-4SKA. In this 50-minute documentary, we show the social impact of both renewable energy and potential astronomical discoveries. All this revolves around the idea of how a single star, our Sun, can be used to study an entire universe of stars. It presents the development of an autonomous solar power generation system and its potential use in a mega infrastructure like the SKA. My role in this was production, contributing to the script, and interviewee. Filmed in various locations across Europe. 2017.
 
Cineforum “Picture a Scientist” organized at the IAA on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25N). 2022
Filming of the documentary Biostirling – A New Power Generation. Granada, 2017
Animation video about the H2020 ESCAPE project

 

OUTSTANDING OUTREACH AND DISSEMINATION PUBLICATIONS AS FIRST AUTHOR

  • The Council of Ministers approves Spain’s accession to the SKA Observatory. Summer Bulletin of the Spanish Society of Astronomy. 2023.
  • Spain participates in the establishment of the SKAO. Summer Bulletin of the Spanish Society of Astronomy. 2021.
  • Granada in SKA, a scientific project on an earthly scale. Alhóndiga Magazine. 2019. • Spain, member of SKA. Astronomical Information and News. 2018.
  • Spain, member country of SKA. Summer Bulletin of the Spanish Society of Astronomy. 2018.
  • The SKA radio telescope: a project on an earthly scale in which Spain participates. Astronomy Magazine. 2018.
  • Deconstruction and other Essays: Square Kilometre Array. Astronomical Information and News, IAA. 2015.
  • Ten research centers and eleven Spanish companies will participate in the design of SKA, the world’s largest radio telescope. Press release. 2013.
  • A green look at the sky. Article in El País. 2012.
  • Galaxies in collision. Research and Science Topics. 2007.
  • e-Science from Andalusia. Granada Hoy Newspaper. 2007.
  • 25 years of Science with the Sierra Nevada Observatory. Granada Hoy Newspaper. 2006.
  • Galaxies in collision. Research and Science. 2004.
  • Galaxies in collision. Astronomy Tribune. 2002.
  • Galaxies in collision. Astronomical Information and News. 2002.
  • Collisions and galactic cannibalism. Ideal Newspaper. 1998.

 

INTERVIEWS

Entrevista para RNE “A hombros de gigantes”: SKA, un telescopio para asomarse al principio del Universo. 2018.

 

INVITED OUTREACH TALKS AT EVENTS OR CENTRES

  • Presentación sobre Ciencia Abierta, mujeres en la Ciencia, sostenibilidad y vocaciones STEM. Inauguración del proyecto Knowmad AHCEIST, I.E.S Politécnico Hermenegildo Lanz, Granada. 2022
  • Charla con una astrónoma. Actividad organizada por la Sociedad Española de Astronomía con motivo del Día Internacional de la Mujer y la Niña en la Ciencia (11F). Online. 2018
  • Astronomía y SKA. Celebración del Día internacional de La mujer y la niña en el Colegio CEIP San Juan de Dios (alumnado de 10 años), (https://youtu.be/nJKH0L6wnkI), Granada. 2021
  • ¿Por qué SKA es un proyecto terrícola?. Desgranando Ciencia 5. Granada, 2018.
  • España ya baila al son del SKA. Noche Europea de los Investigadores. Granada, 2018.
  • El Square Kilometre Array o… qué tienen que ver Einstein, Jodie Foster y 300 ingenieros. Centro de Ciencia PRINCIPIA. Málaga, 2018.
  • El Square Kilometre Array o… qué tienen que ver Einstein, Jodie Foster y 300 ingenieros. Museo de las Artes y las Ciencias. Valencia, 2017.
  • El Square Kilometre Array o… qué tienen que ver Einstein, Jodie Foster y 300 ingenieros. Noche Europea de los Investigadores. Granada, 2017.
  • ¿Qué tiene que ver Jodie Foster con Big Data? La respuesta es SKA y no es un tipo de música. II Data Beers Granada. Granada, 2017.
  • El Square Kilometre Array, o qué tienen que ver Einstein, Jodie Foster y 300 ingenieros. Ciclo de charlas divulgativas “Lucas Lara” organizado por el IAA. Granada, 2016, 2017.
  • SKA, el telescopio más grande del mundo. Desgranando Ciencia. Parque de las Ciencias,Granada, 2016.
  • El Square Kilometre Array, o qué tienen que ver Einstein, Jodie Foster y 300 ingenieros. Museo de las Ciencias y el Cosmos. Tenerife, 2016.
  • El Square Kilometre Array, una oportunidad para España. Sede de la Agrupación Astronómica de Madrid. Madrid,
  • Ciencia en Red: de CSI al cerebro global. III Reunión sobre e-Ciencia Andaluza. Parque de las Ciencias (evento abierto al público). Granada, enero de 2010.
  • ASTROCINE. Impartida junto a Rafael Garrido y Emilio García
    • Festival de cine Retroback. Centro García Lorca (Granada), febrero de 2016.
    • Asociación de estudiantes de Física y Electrónica. Universidad de Granada, abril de 2015.
    • Actividades Agrupación Cultural de la Zubia. Granada, septiembre de 2013.
    • Actividades Agrupación Astronómica Albireo. Sevilla, octubre de 2010.
    • Actividades Semana de la Ciencia. Granada, 17 y 19 de noviembre de 2009.
    • Actividades Semana de la Ciencia. Santander, octubre de 2009.
    • Actividades Planetario Madrid AIA. Madrid, mayo de 2009.
    • Cursos de verano de la Universidad de Córdoba. Córdoba, julio de 2008.
    • VI Encuentro Astronómico ASTROMARTOS 2007. Martos, agosto de 2007.
    • XV Jornadas de Astronomía de Aranzadi. Aranzadi, octubre de 2006.
    • International Aeronautic Conference Outreach Program. Hemisfèric (Valencia), marzo de 2006.
    • Instituto de Enseñanza Media. Serón (Granada), mayo de 2005.
    • Curso de Actualización Científica Marte y la exploración espacial. Parque de las Ciencias (Granada), abril de 2005.
    • X Jornadas de Astronomía de Cartagena. Cartagena (Murcia), octubre de 2004.
    • Universidad Popular de Yecla. Yecla (Murcia), abril de 2004.
    • Semana de la Ciencia y la Tecnología. IAA, noviembre de 2003.
  • Las galaxias: universos en continua evolución. Ciclo de Conferencias “Vive La Ciencia” (2002 – 2003), organizado por el CSIC
    • Delegación del CSIC. Barcelona. Octubre 2004
    • Palacio Miramar. San Sebastián. Junio 2003
    • Instituto de Estudios Marinos. Vigo. Mayo 2003

    • Instituto de Estudios Sociológicos Avanzados. Córdoba. Abril 2003

    • Universidad de León. León. Octubre 2002

    • Universidad de Zaragoza. Zaragoza. Abril 2002

“The Square Kilometre Array or… what do Einstein, Jodie Foster, and 300 engineers have in common”. European Researchers' Night. Granada, 2017.
Talk in "Desgranando Ciencia 3" in Parque de las Ciencias. Granada. 2016