The European Science Forum 2008 (ESOF 2008) will be held in Barcelona from 18 to 22 July. Europe’s largest multidisciplinary meeting on science, the ESOF will bring together 3,000 scientists, politicians and representatives from the business world in the Trade Fair Montjuïc 1. The ESOF will host 70 free activities aimed at the general public and more than 20,000 people are expected to visit.

Organised by EuroScience and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), ESOF offers an extensive scientific programme that includes 112 multidisciplinary conferences and debates. The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) will participate in two sessions of ESOF 2008. In ESOF’s programme of dissemination activities, which is addressed to the public at large and includes 70 free-of-charge exhibitions, there will be a series of conferences and workshops. On Monday 21 July at 18.30 h (Hall 4, floor 0), Joan Guinovart, director of IRB Barcelona, and Xavier Pujol, a scientific journalist, will have an open conversation about science and politics, the benefits derived from biomedical research, the Lisbon strategy, technology transfer and many other issues. Organised by BioCat, the BioRegion of Catalonia, this session is entitled Research-society dialogue: commitment to biomedicine and biotechnology.

On Tuesday 22 July from 8.30 to 10.00 h in ESOF’s section Science and Innovation Policy, there will be a round table session entitled Women in Science: speeding up change, organised by Joan Guinovart, and Mary Osborn, from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. This round table will address the difficulties encountered and measures that must be taken to favour the incorporation of women into top posts in universities and research centres.

In the ESOF 2008, IRB Barcelona will have its own stand (nº. 63), located in the exhibition area, from which information will be provided about the diverse programme of the Institute and the activities underway. Furthermore, IRB Barcelona will also be present in the stand of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya) as it forms part of CERCA, an organisation that groups all the centres of excellence promoted by this Government.