The CSIC Calls You Tonight: European Researchers' Night 2025

•  The IFT co-organizes the science fair together with the other CSIC research centers on the Cantoblanco campus.
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• There will be various educational workshops, a Nobel and non-Nobel Women Escape Road, and a scientific talent show.
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• The event will take place on September 26 at Espacio Fundación Telefónica, in the morning for school groups and from 4:30 p.m. onwards for the general public.

The European Researchers’ Night in Madrid (NIGHTMADRID) is a large-scale science outreach event in which researchers from all areas of knowledge bring their science to the public so that society can get to know it.

For 2025, the research centers of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Cantoblanco will move to Espacio Fundación Telefónica to showcase, throughout September 26, the most interesting (and yes, fun) science we do.

The activity, completely free of charge, is divided into:

In the morning: science fair for Primary, Secondary, High School, and Vocational Training

Throughout the morning, we will hold a large science fair with separate areas for Primary and Secondary levels. On the menu, which you can check in full at this link, we will feature our famous “Science Cart,” explore the secrets of glass and ceramics, play with catalysts, hydrogen cells, and the periodic table, and see with our own hands the antioxidant power of fruit.

Of course, our Escape Road will also be there: searching for Nobel and non-Nobel women. In this activity, students will have fun while learning the names, work, and stories of great women scientists from around the world.

This year, as a big new feature, Secondary school students will attend the live recording of an episode of the podcast Ciencia para Leer, presented by Carmen Guerrero, from the CSIC’s Deputy Vice-Presidency for Scientific Culture.

Seat reservations will open on September 15 at 9:00 a.m. There will be 80 spots for Primary School students and 130 for Secondary School students. You can read the description of all the workshops at this link.

In the afternoon: exclusive workshops, science fair, and a ‘scientific talent show’ for all audiences

At 4:00 p.m. we will open the doors of Espacio Fundación Telefónica and invite you to pick up your SCIENTIFIC PASSPORT, which this year will highlight the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025 (IYQ 2025). At the entrance, you will receive a passport that you will need to fill with stickers as you visit all the participating centers: for each activity, you will receive a sticker to place in the passport (in whichever order you like) in order to receive a final prize.

There will be…

• A science fair with demonstrations from practically all areas of knowledge.
• Closed workshops exploring diverse fields: biology, mathematics, physics, and even a children’s storytelling session.
• Talent show: if 2024 brought plenty of laughs with the science monologue contest, this year we’re doubling the fun with a talent competition full of humor and art in all its forms. There will be two sessions: one at 5:15 p.m. and another at 6:20 p.m.
• Concert: we will close the event with a performance by Las Biolocas, who will reinterpret yesterday’s and today’s hits with biological lyrics.

Full program: workshops will begin at 4:30 p.m. You can check them out at this link.

Description of workshops and activities: here.

The IFT will offer an activity to “see the invisible” and the creation of a live artwork

The Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT UAM-CSIC) will host a closed workshop called Hunting Particles. In this activity, participants will be able to “see” the particles around us thanks to the MiniPIX EDU device, a miniaturized radiation camera equipped with a Timepix detector. This sensor can record the tracks left by different particles (such as electrons, protons, alpha particles, or cosmic radiation) as they pass through the detector, generating unique images and patterns. This way, the public will be able to directly observe how elementary particles manifest in real time, gaining a better understanding of their constant presence in our environment. In addition, the recorded tracks will be analyzed to identify different types of particles. The workshop will be led by IFT researchers, including Ernesto Arganda (volunteers are still welcome for this activity, contact: comunicacion@ift.csic.es).

Meanwhile, as part of the talent show, IFT researcher Juan García-Bellido will present an artistic performance titled The Emission of Gravitational Waves by a Binary System of Neutron Stars. This will consist of creating a live painting accompanied by an outreach explanation of its content. The jury will include Carmen Guerrero (Scientific Culture at CSIC), comedian Ana Bravo, and last year’s winners, among them IFT PhD candidate Carmen Gómez Fayrén, who won the 2024 prize for best monologue.

Who we are

This activity is organized by the CSIC research centers on the Cantoblanco Campus of the Autonomous University of Madrid: Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM) (coordinator), Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP), National Center for Biotechnology (CNB), Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL), Institute of Ceramics and Glass (ICV), Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT), Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology (IMN), Center for Molecular Biology (CBM), and Sols-Morreale Institute for Biomedical Research (IIBM).

NIGHTMADRID is a science outreach project, coordinated by Fundación madri+d and funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Program, within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, grant agreement no. 101.162.110.

Funded by the European Union. The opinions and views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (EREA). Neither the European Union nor the EREA can be held responsible for them.