The UAB and the FGC launch the 3rd edition of the Science Carriage, this year dedicated to diversity

The Science Carriage is part of a FGC train on the Barcelona-Vallès line that will run during the 2025/26 academic year. The new content is in line with the UAB's theme for this year, "Unidiversity. Everyone is the UAB", with which the University wants to claim and give visibility to the diversity of the university community and society in general.

Conceived with the aim of reaching citizens and improving society's scientific and technical education on issues of general interest, in which research and innovation are fundamental, the Science Carriage this year focuses on groups of women, racialised people, sexual minorities and people with disabilities. It aims to offer a scientific perspective that puts the situation of these groups into context and, at the same time, breaks down homogenising visions of reality.

Javier Lafuente, rector of the UAB, pointed out that this year's Science Carriage "reflects the plurality of knowledge we have at the University with which to address a wide range of aspects of the diversity of today's society from rigorous and innovative scientific positions", and highlighted the University's objective with this year's theme: "to contribute to ensuring that both the university community and society in general acknowledge, understand, accept and value diversity as a wealth of ways of being and doing, and appreciate the singularities and differences of each individual and social group".

Carles Ruiz, president of the FGC, highlighted that the "FGC trains are not only a reliable and punctual means of transport, but, with initiatives such as the Science Carriage, they become spaces for reflection and knowledge". Ruiz stressed that "we are committed to disseminating social and cultural initiatives that provide added value to the user experience, both on the trains and at the FGC stations".

Throughout its history, the UAB has promoted equal opportunities and non-discrimination of the people who make up the university community, such as the Observatory for Equality (created in 2005), the Integration Programme for University Students with Special Needs (PIUNE, created in 1992), and the Psychopedagogical Counseling Unit (UAP, created in 2002). In 2024, all three services will be integrated into the Equality and Diversity Service, to promote gender equality, LGBTI+ rights, and attention to the support of people with disabilities or specific educational needs.

The FGC holds collaboration agreements and other accords with different institutions and organisations to promote equality and parity policies, collaborate in providing care to women victims of gender-based violence, and promote the prevention of possible situations of sexual violence and/or discrimination against the LGBTI+ group in public transport. In recent years, the FGC has made progress in terms of equality and has achieved milestones such as the increase in the presence of women in the workforce by 5 percentage points since 2017, which went from 28 to 33.1% in 2024; or the increase of 10% of women in the leadership group in the past ten years. Since 2020, the FGC has also included a gender perspective in the recruitment processes for train drivers and station agents, reserving 40% of places for women.

Audio guides, podcasts and a Specialist Seat

The Science Carriage, which stands out visually thanks to an exterior vinyl with the name of the project, contains information and illustrations inside that can be expanded with audio guides, accessible from QR codes. This year eight central themes will be addressed: human diversity; diversity and gender; sexist violence and women's rights; LGBTI+ people as diverse; religious diversity; ethnic diversity and racialisation; diversity and disability, and disability and accessibility. This content is complemented by the Science Wagon podcast, which offers twelve programmes about the research carried out by UAB research staff on different issues related to the topics covered, available on the website and on the Spotify and Ivoox platforms.

The Science Carriage once again will include the Specialist Seat, an initiative that seeks to encourage the participation of users, and in which a researcher periodically occupies a seat in the train carriage marked for the activity and travels between the Plaça Catalunya and the UAB stations to clear up doubts, exchange experiences, and maintain dialogues related to their field of knowledge.

In this third edition, some fifteen researchers from the UAB will be participating from the departments of Sociology; Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology; Social Psychology; Political Science and Public Law; Applied Pedagogy; Translation and Interpreting and East Asian Studies; and Basic, Developmental and Educational Psychology. The Centre for Sociological Studies on Everyday Life and Work (QUIT) and the Centre for Studies and Research for an Inclusive Society (CERSIN) of the UAB also participated, the latter in collaboration with the Unitary Space for the Right to Independent Living and Inclusion in the Community of People with Disabilities.

The UAB and FGC Science Carriage receives the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) of the Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities.

All information and material about the Science carriage is available on the website: www.uab.cat/vago.