The Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC) will open its doors to the public this Friday, September 26, from 7 pm, to celebrate a new edition of the European Researchers’ Night. The initiative aims to bring science closer to society by creating direct contact between researchers from scientific institutions and the community.
This year, CEAB Night will be dedicated to ecology and complex systems. It will showcase how the complexity of nature is studied —the dynamics resulting from the constant interaction between living beings and their environment—, how patterns are extracted, and how ecological theory is developed.
Visitors will tour the Centre’s facilities, stopping at four thematic “stations” designed to present recent research, key concepts, and curiosities from the natural world. CEAB scientists themselves will explain their work first-hand.
The evening will conclude with an informal gathering on the Centre’s terrace, offering time to address questions and exchange impressions in a relaxed atmosphere.
The event has aroused great interest, and all available places to participate are already fully booked.
Ecology and complex systems
Ecology is the science that studies how living beings interact with each other and with their environment. Its basic unit of study is usually the ecosystem, meaning the set formed by organisms and the medium they inhabit, with all its energy flows, nutrient cycles, interactions, and dynamics.
Ecosystems can be understood as complex systems, due to the multitude of actors and factors that interact dynamically. For this reason, the science of complex systems provides an effective approach to study them, abstract what happens in nature, identify patterns, and develop ecological theory.
The science of complex systems is an interdisciplinary field —combining physics, mathematics, computer science, ecology and even the social sciences— that offers particularly useful tools for ecological research: it helps explain natural phenomena, extract models, and even predict ecological processes.
A consolidated European initiative
The European Researchers’ Night is an event held simultaneously in hundreds of cities across the continent, with the goal of bringing science closer to society and giving visibility to the work carried out by research institutions. Promoted by the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme, the initiative seeks to break down barriers between the scientific world and the general public, while also inspiring vocations and fostering a shared scientific culture.
With activities such as the one organised by CEAB-CSIC in Blanes, the European Researchers’ Night becomes a unique opportunity to discover science in a close, participatory and inspiring way.
