What is outreach all about?
- Hands-on activities that make energy research tangible for schools and communities.
- Programmes co-designed with researchers to build scientific literacy and critical thinking.
- Opportunities for young people to explore real research environments and careers.
- Citizen-focused initiatives that turn everyday experience into meaningful data and insight.
Activities
Outreach at IREC opens up energy research to schools, young people and wider communities. Through hands-on activities, online programmes and citizen science initiatives, we connect real experiments, data and researchers with everyday life. Our outreach work is co-designed with scientists and partner organisations, helping participants think critically about information, understand how the energy transition works in practice and see how research contributes to society.
Schools and teachers
Structured activities that bring energy topics into the classroom, from visits to active laboratories to hands-on experiments and curriculum-linked materials.
Young people and talent
Opportunities for students to work alongside researchers, discover how energy research is done and explore potential study and career pathways.
Citizen science and data
Initiatives that invite people to measure and interpret data from their own environments, linking lived experience with ongoing research.
Partnerships and reach
Outreach programmes developed with schools, universities, public bodies and foundations, ensuring broad access and meaningful impact across territories.
Gara
GARA is a science outreach project on energy, co-funded by FECYT. Since 2021 it has brought energy research into schools through a travelling exhibition, lending suitcases, free workshops and digital classroom resources. From hands-on experiments on efficiency, thermal comfort and air quality to curriculum-linked teaching units, GARA offers schools across Catalonia several ways to work with real energy data and research, supported by active IREC scientists.
Mad for science
Bojos per l’Energia is an intensive course on sustainable energy for first and second year Batxillerat students with a scientific vocation. Promoted by Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, co-ordinated by ICAEN and delivered at IREC facilities, it runs across 15 sessions from January to May. Students work alongside active researchers, exploring energy generation, storage, distribution and consumption — combining theory with hands-on practice. Approximately 25 places are available per edition. Registration opens each year in mid September.
Escolab
Escolab is a long-running initiative by Barcelona City Council that opens the doors of active research centres to secondary school and vocational training students. IREC participates as a host institution, welcoming student groups from across the city into its working laboratories. Each visit unfolds in three phases: an introduction to IREC and its research, a focused session on a specific scientific topic, and a guided tour of active laboratory spaces, all led by IREC scientists and adapted to the educational level of each group.
IREC Youth for Climate & Energy
Youth for Climate & Energy is an international initiative developed by IREC that connects young people with active energy researchers through structured online sessions, cross-border teamwork and direct mentorship. Participants explore sustainable energy and climate change alongside IREC scientists, then work in international teams to develop their own proposal addressing a real energy challenge. The programme runs annually and closes with a final presentation of results open to all participants and partner institutions.
Heat Watchers
Heat Watchers is a citizen science initiative developed by IREC on thermal comfort and air quality in school buildings. It responds to a well-documented challenge: classrooms in Catalonia are getting warmer, and evidence shows that academic performance declines when indoor temperatures exceed 27°C. Participants (students, teachers and families) collect real environmental data from their own spaces, connecting everyday experience to active energy research.
Events and outreach activities
Discover upcoming exhibitions, school workshops, youth programmes and public engagement events linked to IREC’s outreach work.