Elia Ivars, a PhD student at the Barcelona Institute for Biomedical Research (IIBB-CSIC), has emerged as one of the big winners of the final of the 2024 “Science Club Monologues” competition, held on November 15 in Vic. Ivars not only won the “Audience Award”, but also won the “second prize” of 600 euros, in this sixth edition of the competition, which aims to promote scientific dissemination in Catalan.

The final took place in the Auditorium of the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), as part of the 29th Science Week (SC'24), and pitted a total of 8 finalists – four women and four men – who presented 3-minute monologues on various scientific topics. In total, the jury has awarded the three best monologues: the first prize, with 1,000 euros, the second prize, with 600 euros, and the third, with 400 euros.

This year's jury was made up of Sergi Solà Saña, professor of the Department of Communication Sciences at UVic-UCC; Esther Sastre Papasseit, head of Communications at the Vic Hospital Consortium; and Jordi Mas i Castellà, general director of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI).

The competition, organised by FCRI with the support of the Vives University Network and the collaboration of UVic-UCC, seeks to promote new forms of scientific communication and is aimed at students and scientists. In this edition, the initiative was coordinated with the support of the professional monologuists of `Big Van Ciencia´, who have guided the participants in the creation of agile and understandable monologues for the general public.

Elia Ivars, who is currently completing her doctoral thesis at the IIBB-CSIC, has stood out for her ability to convey complex scientific topics in a clear and attractive manner, particularly on the study of mitochondrial DNA and its relationship with neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Ivars had already demonstrated her involvement in scientific dissemination in other initiatives, such as her participation in the European Night of Research at the Cosmocaixa Museum on November 27, where she presented, together with her colleague Margalida Puigrós, the stand entitled "Mom! Mom! Where does mitochondrial DNA come from?".

Graduated in Biotechnology from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and with a Master's Degree in Biomedical Research from the Pompeu Fabra University, Ivars has also collaborated with several research institutions, including the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP-UPV-CSIC), the GReNeC-Neurobio laboratory (UPF), and the National Center for Cardiovascular Research.

This award reinforces her commitment to scientific dissemination and her dedication to promoting knowledge and understanding of scientific issues of social relevance.

You can access the monologues in the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj2BfZ9RKlo