🔬 During the first half of 2026, the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) with Building Resilient once again became a hub for inspiration, creativity, and scientific discovery through its outreach initiatives aimed at secondary school students.
🎓 As part of the CiènciaLab program, designed for students in 3rd and 4th year of secondary education and vocational training, a series of workshops were held on campus with the goal of awakening scientific and technological vocations. Led by university professors, these sessions combined science, engineering, and creativity in an engaging and hands-on learning environment.
🏗️ Our workshop, “Creating the Lizard Building,” invited students to explore structural engineering concepts through interactive challenges, model building, and collaborative activities. Participants tackled an essential question: Can a building remain standing when something unexpectedly fails? Through experimentation, they discovered how resilience and robustness can be incorporated into structural design, connecting real-world engineering challenges with nature-inspired solutions.
💡 These activities, based on research developed at the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Hormigón (ICITECH), provided students with a practical and inspiring introduction to engineering, highlighting its role in creating safer and more resilient environments.
🧠 On Saturday, February 21, we also had the pleasure of participating in the “Reach Your Potential” event organized by Asociación AVAST at the UPV.
👷♀️ During the AVAST workshop, participants engaged in dynamic, hands-on activities designed to spark curiosity and creativity while introducing them to the fundamentals of structural behavior. Through play and experimentation, students explored how engineering can solve real-world problems and improve everyday life.
🎯 The experience was both educational and inspiring, encouraging young minds to think critically, experiment freely, and imagine future careers in science and engineering.
💛 We would like to thank all participants, organizers, and collaborators who made these activities possible. Initiatives like these reinforce our commitment to science communication and to inspiring the next generation of engineers, researchers, and innovators. This initiative was proudly supported by the Endure project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC).
