On Monday July 4 the 2nd meeting of the fem.talent project took place in the Auditorium of the ICO, which was organized by the Consortium Biopol'H to mark the International Year of Women Scientists.

The mayoress of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Núria Marín, opened the event defending equal opportunities for women in science. She was accompanied by Esther Sanchez, Secretary of Employment and Workplace Relations from the Department of Enterprise and Employment, who made a point in the management of cultural change.

The event was also attended by women doctors and scientists of the Biopol'H area such as Candela Calle, General Manager of the Catalan Institute of Oncology; Janet Martín, Research Director of the Holistic Health Consortium (CSI); Silvia De Sanjosé, Head of the Unit of Infections and Cancer of the ICO Cancer Epidemiology Program and Cristina Gámez, responsible at the PET Unit.

The first part of the discussion revolved, from a critical point of view, around the contributions of women in science throughout history as well as in the contemporary social context. Among all the interventions, the highlights were the need to reassess female talent and the performance of women in today’s society; the need for a change in the organizational management of time and space, and the importance of a system to transfer female talent in the science-technology-company chain.

Therefore, the professionals of different fields who were there discussed the main problems encountered by women scientists and the possible solutions. Some conclusions standing out were the facts that the balance between work and family is the main barrier for women scientists to progress in their careers and that, even today, there are still considerable differences between sexes. Significant data were brought around this: for instance, only 30% of the scientific researchers in the Network of Science and Technology Parks of Catalonia (XPCAT) are women and from these, 8.2% have positions of responsibility.

The second part of the debate, which was about "the responsibility of the media in the popularization of science," was attended by women journalists working in television and radio programs on the dissemination of science. Mònica López, director and presenter of the program Eureka, moderated the round table in ComRadio, which had the participation of Míriam Martí, scientific advisor of Quèquicom on TV3; Zuberoa Marcos, scientific director of Tres14 on TVE, and Esther Castarnado, presenter and editor of Batega on L’Hospitalet TV, broadcasted by the Local Television Network.

Finally, a round table was opened to reflect on the participation of the audience in the elaboration of these programs through social networks. Some of the areas covered included the fear of scientists to communicate their actions, the need to talk about contextualization rather than popularization, and the difference between a scientific program and news concerning science.

The closing ceremony was run by Ramon López, Director of the Consortium Biopol'H, who encouraged everyone to continue striving to add value to the female talent. The event had as well the participation of Josep Miquel Piqué, Chairman of the XPCAT, who presented the fem.talent project in the beginning of the conference.