B·Debate launches new website to boost visibility of high-impact international scientific events in Barcelona

The International Center for Scientific Debate Barcelona, B·Debate, which aims to help position Barcelona as a benchmark in generating knowledge and Catalonia as a country of scientific excellence, has just launched a new, more dynamic website to boost the visibility of its scientific events. This new tool aims to become the main channel for disseminating these events to the scientific community and society in general.

The site offers information on all of the activities held under the B·Debate brand, an initiative of Biocat and the “la Caixa” Foundation, in a way that is easier to understand, simpler and more organized, with a clear structure and good browsing flow, making it more usable. With this new tool, B·Debate also shares the knowledge and results obtained through the debates, in the form of news and synopses. It is available in two languages: Catalan and English.

A web-tree with six main blocks

• B·Debate: a space where members of the scientific community can learn more about the B·Debate initiative and its mission, vision and values, as well as the organizations that promote it and the members of its scientific committee, who are in charge of selecting the proposals for the yearly B·Debate program.
• Call for proposals: this section features information on how to submit proposals for activities to be included on the yearly program. The deadline for the 2017 call for proposals was 29 July 2016.
• Debateca: inspired by the concept of a library, this space is an archive of all the scientific debates and activities organized by B·Debate since it was founded, with a special section for the current year's program (in this case 2016–2017) so users have easy access to information on the most recent debates.
• News: in this section users can get the latest news on scientific events in Barcelona including articles, interviews and videos created by B·Debate.
• Synopses: the synopses are one of the most highly valued contents on the new website. They are summaries of the scientific debates disseminated to the scientific community and society in general in order to raise awareness of the most significant, innovative topics experts discussed at the events.
• Press: space set aside for media outlets interested in the B·Debate initiative, with press releases and press calls for each scientific event held, as well as contact and media services information.

In addition to these large sections, the new website also features a new format on the debate pages, which combines a static and dynamic section. The static section has basic information on the debates, and the dynamic section has five subsections: description, agenda (with a printable version), speakers, travel and venue (with a map of the area and directions to get there) and synopsis. The same page also features contents associated with the debate, including news articles and press releases.

Upcoming scientific debates in Barcelona

On 27 and 28 September, B·Debate is holding an event focusing on plant proteostasis in collaboration with the Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics and the COST Proteostasis project. The fourth edition of the Barcelona Conference on Epigenetics and Cancer (BCEC) will be held on 13 and 14 October, led this year by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona. And on 25 and 26 October, the Autonomous University of Barcelona Institut de Neurociències is promoting Early Life Experiences, an event focusing on how our first experiences (in childhood and adolescence) contribute to the development of the nervous system.