Ciência Viva will have a new Center in Loulé and a Quinta in Tavira

Rosalia Vargas, president of Ciência Viva, spoke with the Sul Informação

Rosalia Vargas – Photo: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação

A new Center in Loulé and one of the «Seven Quintas» in Tavira could expand, in the medium term, the Ciência Viva network in the Algarve, he revealed to Sul Informação Rosalia Vargas, on the sidelines of the closing session of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), which took place yesterday, in Olhão.

The president of the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture – Ciência Viva directed a session that, more than signaling the creation of a ministry, celebrated the beginning of an era in which scientific dissemination and culture were placed on the political and educational agenda and social, in Portugal.

And there is a personality behind this achievement, José Mariano Gago, who gives its name to the Municipal Library that hosted the session and which, despite being born in Lisbon, had strong links to Olhão, namely to Pechão, where he had family roots and where he passed vacation. He chose, moreover, to be buried there.

It was following the creation of the MCTES that Ciência Viva emerged, a national project for the dissemination of scientific culture that has been growing exponentially since the late 90's. And it won't stop there.

«Ciência Viva is always open to new projects. Our network is always growing. It currently has 20 centers in mainland Portugal and one in the Azores. But we are always thinking of new spaces of this nature», revealed Rosalia Vargas to our newspaper, on the sidelines of yesterday's session.

 

Manuel Heitor, António Pina, Rosalia Vargas and José Apolinário at the entrance to the session at the Mariano Gago Library – Photo: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

And this growth passes through the Algarve, namely Loulé and Tavira, but also through the different schools in the region.

“There is a concrete proposal from Loulé to move forward with a center. Let's work on the idea, since a Ciência Viva Center is not something that is done suddenly, it takes time. There is a desire for it to be associated with the theme of Health», revealed the president of Ciência Viva.

But “there is also a new project, the Quintas Ciência Viva. And there, they are rural farms, but that look to the future, through innovation. The objective is, above all, to look at products, make them innovative and capture the taste, the interest of the youngest, for other professional choices. We want you to look at these areas as being promising».

“So we'll look at precision agriculture, that which uses robotics, but also the products themselves. Hence, we will have Quinta do Azeite, Quinta das Cerejas, Quinta do Sal and Quinta da Dieta Mediterrânica, which is being worked on to be in Tavira», revealed Rosalia Vargas.

The Quinta Ciência Viva de Tavira, which should be born in the Agricultural Experimentation Center there, will be, «for now, the only one in the Algarve. And I say for now because our original idea was to start with Sete Quintas. Who doesn't want to be at Sete Quintas, with the beautiful image and pleasant feeling associated with expression?”.

«However, the orders started to grow and there are no longer just seven. Right now, we have projects for 17 farms. This means that there is a lot of work to be done with local authorities, universities and polytechnic institutes. We will not do it on private farms, they are spaces that belong to these institutions and we are going to streamline them and fill them with new ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Rosalia Vargas.

For this responsible, «the Algarve is a very promising region, both in terms of the new ideas it can still receive, and in terms of the qualified professionals that we have here and whom we need to develop the dissemination and scientific education».

 

Minister Manuel Heitor in conversation with the directors of the Algarve's Ciência Viva Centers – Photo: Hugo Rodrigues | Sul Informação

 

Yesterday's ceremony, which was attended by Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, staged the directors of the three Ciência Viva Centers in the Algarve, namely Ana Ramos (Tavira), Cristina Veiga-Pires (Algarve-Faro) and Luís Azevedo Rodrigues (Lagos).

The three heads of the Ciência Viva centers in the Algarve, in a conversation led by the member of the Government, spoke not only about the work they are developing, but also gave their vision of scientific dissemination in Portugal and the challenges it faces.

It is certain that they are more and more allies of this mission, as the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture is also betting heavily on schools, namely on the Ciência Viva Clubs.

This project is at an early stage, but «there is a great acceptance in the Algarve».

Proof of this were the various directors of Groupings, from various municipalities in the Algarve, who attended the session.

«The Ciência Viva Centers are fundamental partners in the Quintas project, as they are in the Ciência Viva clubs in schools and Ciência Viva Schools. We have several networks in the country and working in partnership is working with commitments, with projects», concludes Rosalia Vargas.

 

 

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