With the new incorporations, the ICHN seeks to ensure that marine scientific knowledge is properly represented in the different tasks and activities of the Institution.
The Institució Catalana d'Història Natural (ICHN) has decided to focus on marine sciences and has incorporated two researchers from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM), Blanca Figuerola and Janire Salazar, to its Board of Directors to promote the seas and oceans’ knowledge.
To achieve this, Blanca and Janire, together with another ICM researcher, Esther Garcés, who is a member of the ICHN since 2019, will contribute to the organisation of cycles of scientific sessions, technical conferences and seminars and naturalistic courses on marine topics. In fact, they both join the ICHN with extensive experience in carrying out outreach activities in the marine field in different associations and institutions.
"During the next two years we will try to ensure that marine scientific knowledge is sufficiently represented in the different tasks and activities of the ICHN", states Janire.
"One of our objectives is to enrich and diversify the ICHN activities through our previous knowledge in different areas of research and dissemination", adds Blanca.
The researchers joined the ICHN on 27 May, when the General Assembly of the Institution was held and candidates were chosen to fill the vacant positions of the Board of Directors.
With the incorporation of Blanca and Janire, the ICHN wants to give more protagonism to marine environments, which have traditionally been less represented than terrestrial environments in this and other institutions, and to rejuvenate its steering committee to avoid the Institution’s ageing.
About the ICHN
The ICHN defines itself as a scientific society which belongs to the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) and aims to promote the study and dissemination of knowledge concerning natural beings and systems. Within the Institution, sections, commissions or work teams can be set up, either on the initiative of the Board of Directors itself or of a group of members who wish to carry out a specific activity.
Also, a wide range of activities and advisory tasks for institutions are carried out in conjunction with other naturalist organisations, and more recently the ICHN has begun to develop projects related to the promotion of research and its application to the management and conservation of natural systems.
Finally, this year the Institution has started to award the ICHN Women Naturalists' Grant, which seeks to promote projects related to amateur naturalist research into botany, ecology, geology or zoology. This year the award was granted to the ICM doctoral student Carlota Ruiz, who presented the work entitled "El Grapissar de Masia Blanca: un patrimoni natural a peu de platja".