CINBIO investigator shares experiences with women participating in the Teis Community Plan

Verónica Salgueiriño, researcher and leader of the Hybrid Nanomaterial’s group at CINBIO, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence within the Galician university system, visited the women participating in the project entitled Non hai fronteiras (‘There are no borders) promoted by the Teis Community Plan in Vigo.

This neighbourhood scheme, made up of people, groups, associations, services and resources in Vigo’s Teis district, runs this project targeting women of foreign origin. The aim is to raise their visibility and provide them with basic language skills and ease their integration, thereby building up a more inclusive and egalitarian district.

For over an hour, Verónica Salgueiriño spoke about her work as a researcher in the field of magnetic nanomaterials for bio-related applications but, above all, her speech aimed to make the work of female researchers visible, stressing the importance of encouraging young women’s scientific vocation in order to create a fairer and more egalitarian society that promotes progress for all. The eight women participants had previously had the opportunity to discover Verónica’s life history, told in the first person through the illustrated book Quero ser investigadora 3 (‘I Want to be a Researcher’), published by the University of Vigo’s Scientific Culture Unit.

This initiative is part of an extensive programme of dissemination activities to commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is celebrated each year around the world on 11th February. The next activity will take place on Thursday, 8th February with a visit to CINBIO by 47 girls from Vigo’s Castelao Secondary School, as part of the Elas Fan CienTec initiative (Girls Do Science and Technology).