La Palma Eruption “Historicers,” SINC Track and Rafael Bachiller, CSIC-BBVA Science Communication Awards | Sciences

The second edition of the award from the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the BBVA Foundation for Scientific Communication decided to honor researchers from the Institute of Geology and Mining (IGME-CSIC) who have dedicated themselves to imparting the best to society. scientific information on the volcanic eruption in La Palma; to the SINC track, the scientific news agency of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT); and famous astronomer and astronomer Rafael Bacheler. Two young journalists have also received assistance. Both prizes – awarded €40,000 each – and the two assistantships – €35,000 each – are part of the program to promote scientific communication established in 2021 by the CSIC and the BBVA Foundation. Its aim is to recognize and encourage the essential work of journalists and reporters, who report in a rigorous and engaging manner on developments in science, as well as to improve training in this area crucial to society’s scientific culture. More than 100 applications have been submitted to this second edition, both for prizes and for assistance. In its first edition, the CSIC-BBVA Foundation Award was received in its Journalism category Materia, Department of Science at EL PAÍS.

The jury recognized the “exemplary work carried out in the context of an emergency” by researchers from the Institute of Geology and Mining of Spain (IGME-CSIC). The team of historians, led by Elizabeth Diaz Losada, Head of Scientific Culture at IGME, was recognized for their dedication to informing the community through all possible platforms about the science behind the 2021-2022 La Palma eruption. The “Critical Importance of Conveying Scientific Knowledge to Society from the Field and the First Minute” award highlights the minutes of the jury.

The minutes also highlighted that the multidisciplinary team “worked on the ground during the volcanic eruption and knew from the first moment that an essential part of their job was to communicate what was happening to journalists and residents.” For this reason, he adds, “he devoted a great part of his time, even in physical and emotional danger, to reporting, accurately and promptly, on the work he was doing.” Just an hour after the eruption, historians have recorded the official information available at the time on a webpage that they will constantly update to include all relevant news. In the three months that the explosion lasted, the web amassed more than two million hits.

In this section of the research acknowledgment, For example but not limited toThe scientific communication of astronomer and popularizer Rafael Bacheler, Director of the National Astronomical Observatory and the Royal Observatory of Madrid, was honored for his “long career dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge”. Bacheler is a leading researcher of international repute in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics and has published more than 350 scientific articles in leading specialized journals, particularly in his area of ​​expertise: formation of solar-type stars. At the same time, he has always considered the dissemination of knowledge in society to be an “obligation of the scientific world.” Over the past fifteen years, Batcheler has also devoted considerable effort to bringing astronomy closer to the general public, primarily through the multimedia sections he has created on the newspaper’s website. the worldAs well as in hundreds of conferences, exhibitions and interventions in radio and television programs. In addition, he is a prolific author of books designed for the general public. For all these reasons, it has become “an exemplary standard for the dissemination of knowledge in society,” in the words of the jury

In the category of journalists, the SINC news agency “path” was awarded to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT). The jury, chaired by CSIC President Eloísa del Pino and Rafael Pardo, Director of the BBVA Foundation, awarded them for their “extraordinary 15-year career during which they managed to reach huge audiences, both in Spain and Latin America, for quality journalism.” The Foundation also commends to use “creditworthy sources and engaging stories” to make science news available to the general public, as well as to allow “the republication of its contents, all of which may be freely accessed”.

The Scientific News Agency SINC was created in 2008 with the aim of disseminating the work of the Spanish scientific community to the media of our country. Fifteen years later, the report highlights that it “has not only achieved this goal, but has also succeeded in becoming a communicator with its own voice, providing reports, interviews, and analysis in original methods.”

CSIC-BBVA Science Communication Awardees are awarded to young science journalists Jon Gurutz Arranz and Iole Ferrara, who will have the opportunity to carry out training itineraries to get first-hand exposure to the latest research being conducted at CSIC centers. The idea behind the scholarship to major in science communication is for the two journalists to spend their residency at CSIC institutes, laboratories, and centers to learn about and communicate the entire research process from the inside.

Evaluation Commission

The Evaluation Committee for the CSIC-BBVA Foundation Awards and Grants for Science Communication was chaired by Eloísa del Pino, President of CSIC, and consists of Rafael Pardo, Director of the BBVA Foundation; José María Martel, Vice President of Scientific and Technical Research at CSIC; Carlos Cloza, Vice President of Organizational and Institutional Relations at CSIC; Patricia Fernández de Lys, Editor-in-Chief of Science, Health and Technology at EL PAÍS; Abel Grau, Director of Communications at CSIC; Pablo Jauregui, Director of Scientific and Environmental Communication at the BBVA Foundation.

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