Barcelona Science Park introduces the first European web portal on biomedics for high-school students

Barcelona (ACN).- European high-school students have at their disposal, for the first time, an educational web portal on biomedical science: ‘Xplore Health’. It is a European Union funded project, led by Barcelona Science Park (BSP), a research platform –mainly on life sciences– from the University of Barcelona that has research institutes and private companies working on its facilities. BSP presented last Monday evening ‘Xplore Health’, the first tool of its kind at European level. It is a participative channel for high-school students, to raise scientific literacy and the understanding of biomedical science. The website aims at “stimulating dialogue” and “inspiring future researchers”, as stated in its online presentation. The website has tools for educators and interactive applications for students, such as experiment samples. The objective is to make students familiar with biomedical science and its investigation. ‘Xplore Health’ also has the secondary objective to educate the wider public and to promote dialogue on issues related to biomedicine, such as its ethical, legal and socioeconomic aspects. The website is the outcome of a pan-European project, where research centres and science museums from across the EU participate.

The project has been developed by a European network of centres and organisations, and funded by the European Commission with the collaboration of the Catalan savings bank La Caixa (through its social work foundation) and the Amgen Foundation. Barcelona’s Science Park led the project. Museums from four member states (Poland, France, the United Kingdom and Spain) are also participating in the initiative, as well as research centres such as the Centre of the Cell from the University of London. The pan-European organisation ‘European Schoolnet’, which represents more than 30,000 schools throughout Europe, was also involved in the project.

http://www.xplorehealth.eu/en