Three students from the region are part of the book “Girls in Science” by Sencia Viva

Ciência Viva launched the first book in the Girls in Science series on February 11th. Among the 115 girls who shared their self-portraits and dreams in this work are three young women from the Entroncamento School Group, who attended the launch event at the Knowledge Pavilion in the presence of the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education.

“Science is a form of evolution.” This sentence by Mariana Farinha, a student at Escola Básica da Zona Verde – Entroncamento (4th year of EB), sums up the experience she was in contact with science. “I love science, it’s important to me because it allows answers to many of our questions and helps improve our quality of life through studies and technology.” Mariana is one of the faces of the 115 girls who, from north to south of the country, shared their self-portraits and testimony in the book “Raparigas na Ciência”, launched in Pavilhão do Conhecimento on February 11, on the occasion of the international celebration of Women and Girls in Science.

The ceremony was attended by Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and some members of the Afghan National Conservatory of Music, who were supported by Sensia Viva by donating and receiving 10% of the box office revenue for February 2022. Musical instruments donated by the community at Loja do Pavilhão do Conhecimento in Lisbon. The Afghan National Institute of Music (ANIM) is known as the institution that brought music back to Afghanistan, restoring and guaranteeing the musical rights of the Afghan people that were taken from them during the Taliban period.

Held at Mariano Gago Hall to celebrate the many “girls of science” who want to make a difference, learn more and make discoveries that impact the lives of others, the initiative included talks and demonstrations of experiments.
Besides Mariana, Centro Ciência Viva do Alviela invited two other students from the Entroncamento group of schools to testify about their relationship with science: Maddalena Farinha, Mariana’s twin sister, and Leonor Nascimento, of Escola Pasica Dr. Rui de Andrade (sixth year EB).

“I love science because it’s the answer to how and why everything happens in our universe,” Maddalena says. For this young woman, science reveals itself as an answer to the events of the universe, and through this she was able to “discover the reason for” what is going on around her “and also to the natural phenomena that sometimes occur, earthquakes, hurricanes”. Leonor Nascimento highlights the curiosity in science to “know more about certain topics” and “discover how things work,” as each experiment leads to new questions.

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated on 11 February, has emerged as a means to support and enhance women’s and girls’ access to education, training, and research activities in science, technology, engineering and sports.

The idea to create this celebration came from the “Global Forum on Women’s Health and Development”, organized by the Royal Academy of International Sciences (RASIT) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in February 2015.

It was later established, through Resolution 70/212 of the United Nations General Assembly, on December 22, 2015.

In 2022, the initiative was titled “Justice, Diversity and Inclusion: Water Unites Us.”