Spain and Ukraine high school students will represent MelanogasterCTF at the “ERC Annual Event 2022 – Citizen Science and Frontier Research”

On the left of the image: IES Eladio Cabañero’s students, Tomelloso, Spain. On the right of the image: Mriya School’s students and teachers, Odessa, Ukraine.

We are pleased to announce the two high-schools that have been selected to represent our citizen science project Melanogaster Catch The Fly! (#MelanogasterCTF) at the prestigious annual event of the European Research Council (ERC) “Citizen Science and Frontier Science”, which will take place on December 7th 2022, at the ERC headquarters in Brussels. The high-schools were selected among the >16 participating schools in our international network of citizen science in adaptation genomics, in Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Serbia, and Colombia.

  • IES Eladio Cabañero, Tomelloso (Spain)

    Teacher: Antonio Buendía. Students: Celia Martínez Becerra, Lidia Picazo Molinero, David Jiménez Navarro, Antonio Becerra Morales.

    Mriya School, Odessa (Ukraine)

    Teacher: Denis Radionov. Students: Tarasov Mykhailo, Abdulkarim Ayham, Glebko Maria, Rovinskaya Lusya.

The institutes will share their experience as participants of our citizen science project and its implications for climate change in the section “Young people engaged for the planet” which will be broadcast online to the general public, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Central European Time (on December 7th).

We acknowledge that it was a really tough decision to made because all the schools participating in the selection process, presented really competitive and motivated candidates. The decision was made based on a detailed evaluation that took into account the following aspects:

  1. Participation and active trajectory in the project.
  2. Gender equity in the members of the students’ group, and in the participation and distribution of interventions and answers during the interview.
  3. The participant’s knowledge of the project, its scientific objectives, and implications.
  4. Correct acknowledgment of the institutions, entities, and people responsible for the #MelanogasterCTF citizen science project, and its activities.
  5. Good English level and good communication skills.
  6. Awareness of the importance of the project
  7. Awareness of the importance of their contribution to the project.
  8. Awareness and communication of the relevance of the project for the study of the impact of climate change on biodiversity.
  9. Proper mention of the scientific concepts, and keywords of the project.

We are also proud of the participation in the event of our scientific director, Dr. Josefa González (González Lab) as an invited speaker.

Congratulations to our representatives, and to our amazing #MelanogasterCTF community for all your enthusiasm, and once again thanks for your valuable collaboration. We are especially excited, since #MelanogasterCTF is one of the 2 citizen science projects selected in Europe by the European Research Council (ERC).

Everybody is invited to attend online the “Young people engaged for the planet” ERC event on December 7th, 2022, 14:30 – 15:25h CET.

 

The #MelanogasterCTF citizen science project is organized by the Evolutionary and Functional Genomics Laboratory (IBE-CSIC), and the science communication and dissemination association La Ciència Al Teu Món (LCATM). With the collaboration of the European Drosophila Population Genomics Consortium (DrosEU),  the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology – Ministry of Science and Innovation. (FECYT), the Fundación General CSIC (FGCSIC) and the European Research Council (ERC).