Passion for Knowledge returns in style

• The Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC) organises a new edition of the Passion for Knowledge (P4K) science festival that will take place from 2 to 7 October
• Eight Nobel Laureates and world-class experts will give public lectures at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, Euskalduna and CAF
• The extensive program includes activities for all audiences: multitudinous meetings with students, exhibitions, children's workshops, shows, bertsolaris, Naukas sessions, streamers...
• Registration opens today through the dipc.org festival website

Organized by the Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC), the Passion for Knowledge (P4K) 2023 science festival has the participation of eight Nobel Laureates and a large cast of prestigious international scientists who have been protagonists of some of the most relevant scientific discoveries of the last decades. A luxury within the reach of anyone, with the aim of celebrating in a big way every step that science has taken for the benefit of humanity.

The Passion for Knowledge festival arrives with a renewed image and an extensive programme of activities aimed at all audiences. Science will dress up to share its latest findings with the public in a new edition of the festival that will take place from 2 to 7 October in Donostia/San Sebastián, Bilbao and other locations.

The aim of Passion for Knowledge is to promote science as a key cultural activity to contribute to the well-being of future generations and to highlight knowledge as an engine of scientific, technological and cultural progress. The program is complemented by a series of activities aimed at different audiences: several meetings with high school students, informative sessions for young researchers, exhibitions, children's workshops, shows, a session with bertsolaris, dissemination with Naukas collaborators and streamers, projections, and much more.

The plenary lectures, which take place in the afternoons at the festival's main venue, the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, are the hallmark of the festival's extensive programme. With the help of several Nobel Laureates and prestigious international figures from different scientific disciplines, the public will be able to approach topics as diverse as quantum physics, chemistry, intelligent biomaterials, botany and biotechnology. The city is imbued with the scientific spirit to celebrate the passion for knowledge with society as a whole. A luxury within anyone's reach to attend the Plenary lectures at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, the Euskalduna Palace or the CAF company in Beasain. Among the guests are Özlem Türeci, key in the race for the Covid-19 vaccine; Didier Queloz (Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019), discoverer of the first exoplanet; Jean-Pierre Sauvage (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016), designer of molecular machines; Donna Strickland, Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 thanks to her pioneering research in the field of lasers; Dario Gil, vice president of IBM and director of IBM Research site of the world's largest quantum computing laboratory and Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the discoverer of pulsars, among others.

As is tradition, in the Victoria Eugenia Theater you can also enjoy the show Bertso Passion that brings together prominent exponents of bertsolarismo such as Maialen Lujanbio, Amets Arzallus, Nerea Ibarzabal and Andoni Egaña; or the already known sessions Naukas Passion in which several figures of the dissemination and communication of science at the state level participate.

In this new edition of the festival, the multiple Encounters between secondary and high school students and top researchers will also be held in San Sebastian and Bilbao, with the participation of 5 Nobel Laureates. The main objective of the meetings is to awaken curiosity about science among young people and inspire scientific vocations, with special emphasis on women. The Encounters are supported by Telefónica, EDP and the UPV/EHU.

Also, within the framework of the festival, ‘STROM - Inclusive Astronomy’ will be inaugurated, an innovative astronomy exhibition that will open the doors to inclusion, with the possibility of having the planets of the Solar System in your hands, walking with your fingers on the surface of the Moon or being so close to the Sun that you can hear its sound. The exhibition, conceived and developed by the DIPC in collaboration with Tabakalera for the Passion for Knowledge festival, will be open to the public from 4 to 31 October on the Third Floor of Tabakalera.

At the weekend, in the Club Room of Victoria Eugenia, Passion Txiki will also take place, a mini science festival for the children that will include experiment workshops, scientific storytelling, games, etc., thanks to the collaboration of Kutxa Fundazioa.

In addition, this year the festival welcomes a new format with the Sessions streamers where the best state streamers of scientific content will take the stage of the Victoria Eugenia theatre to share their knowledge on the current situation of various scientific and technological topics.

Passion for Knowledge 2023 is possible thanks to the permanent support of the patrons of the DIPC who are the Basque Government - through the Department of Education and the Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness -, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the City Council of San Sebastián, Kutxa Fundazioa, Telefónica, EDP and CAF, as well as specific funding from the Basque Government through the Department of Education and the Innovation Fund.

The Minister of Education, Jokin Bildarratz, said that “for the Basque Government and the Department of Education, the science, technology and innovation policy is a priority and it is, fundamentally, because it is also a priority for Basque society. Knowledge is a public good for all people, expanding it is a matter of public interest and disseminating it is the best way to democratize it. Passion for Knowledge is a luxury, it gives us the opportunity to offer different activities to students, teachers and parents. Our girls and boys will be able to meet scientists of an exceptional level first hand. And I put the emphasis on them, on women, because they convey to our students the message that knowledge is inclusive, in addition to understanding that effort and achievements for men and women have not always been valued in the same way. We have, in short, a unique opportunity to attend an exceptional event.”

Ricardo Díez Muiño, director of the DIPC, stressed that “Donostia is a city of science and knowledge, which houses world-class research institutions. In this context, a festival as unique as Passion for Knowledge is a natural extension of this activity to citizens, it is an opportunity to share the fascination for knowledge with everyone. It is very difficult to find festivals like ours in the world.”

To conclude with the presentation, Pedro Miguel Etxenike insisted on the idea that has always guided the DIPC, “science as a cultural value and transformative seed”, and stressed the need for critical thinking in times of excess information and fake news. In his speech, the president of the DIPC quoted Hypatia: “jealously preserve your right to reflect, because even the fact of thinking wrong is better than not thinking at all”, when inviting all citizens to take part in this festival of knowledge.

All activities scheduled during the festival will be free. An interpretation service will be available in Basque, Spanish and English, and the main sessions will be broadcast live by streaming through the festival website and EITB Cosmos.

To participate in the different activities of Passion for Knowledge (P4K) 2023, it is recommended to register and book a place through the festival website: p4k.dipc.org. Registration for the public activities of Victoria Eugenia (with registration by days) and Bilbao is now open. Registration for Passion Txiki will open on 7 September at 10:00 am.

To receive all the news, you must sign up for the festival newsletter: https://p4k.dipc.org/en/home#newsletter

Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC)

Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC) is a research centre whose mission is to carry out and catalyse cutting-edge research in physics and related disciplines, as well as transmit scientific culture to society. Located in Donostia / San Sebastián since 2008, DIPC is a Basque Excellence Research Centre (BERC) recognised by the Department of Education of the Basque Government. In 2019, it was also recognised as a 'Severo Ochoa' Centre of Excellence by the Spanish Research Agency.