Marc Güell

ICREA Professor at Pompeu Fabra University. His work includes several synthetic biology breakthroughs (radically recoded genome, PERVs-free pigs, gene writing, skin microbiome engineering) that have produced important impacthad a major impact (>18,000 citations, 4 companies developing therapies, patents licensed to leading companies).

Pere Estupinyà

Invitado de Honor

Pere Estupinyà is a biochemist and science communicator. He is the presenter and director of El Cazador de Cerebros on TVE and the host of the science segment on A vivir (Cadena SER). A former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, he has written five books and won the CSIC–FBBVA Award for Best Science Journalist in 2024.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creativity

Miguel Pita

He holds a PhD in genetics and cell biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, where he works as a professor and researcher. He combines his university activity with scientific dissemination, work that he develops from very different fields, not only the literary one. For more than a decade he has been leading the section "La noticia científica de la semana” in the mythical radio sports program Tiempo de Juego, where a purely scientific space is reserved for him between the action of football matches. As a writer, he is the author of the book of divulgation El ADN dictador (Ariel, 2017), in which he exposes how genetics decisively influences human life, and reflects on which traits may or may not be conditioned by our DNA. His interest in explaining complex scientific issues with simplicity led him to publish Un día en la vida de un virus (Periférica, 2020), a clear and informative approach to the role of viruses and pandemics in our society. This year he will publish El cerebro enamorado (Periférica, 2025), a book that dissects the most powerful feeling that human beings experience from a scientific perspective, and that demonstrates, with rigor, that love is not a magical phenomenon nor dictated by the gods, but a fascinating and transient state that occurs in our neurons.
His interest in communication goes beyond books and radio, as he has also directed short films and documentaries that integrate science and audiovisual creation as complementary ways to bring knowledge to the general public. He also teaches the edition of the course online "Introducción a la genética y la evolución” on the EdX platform; he has published articles in media such as El País, Muy Interesante and The Conversation, and has participated in international conferences and debates of different profiles (Banco Sabadell Futures Debate, Hay Festival Peru, Hay Festival Mexico, Protagonists 2030 in Chile, etc.); where he is always ready to defend the relevant role of scientific knowledge in society.

Other activities involving the participant:

The Pleasure of Reading Gala

Mara Dierssen

Invitado de Honor

Doctor Dierssen is Director of the Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Laboratory at the Centre for Genomic Regulation. She has made major contributions to our understanding of intellectual disability and genetic disorders. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including the prestigious Sisley-Lejeune Prize and the National Prize for Scientific Culture awarded by the Government of Catalonia, as well as the Ramón Trias Fargas, Jaime Blanco and Fundación Esteve prizes. These distinctions led to an invitation to contribute to Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2012) and to her election as a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia and the Academia Europaea. She has also been awarded the Silver Medal of the College of Physicians, of which she is an honorary member, and recognised as a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Cantabria.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creativity
Authoritarianism: a threat to science

Salvador Macip

Invitado de Honor

Salvador Macip is a doctor, scientist and writer. He is also a professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Leicester, Dean at the Open University of Catalonia and researcher at the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Centre. He is the author of 43 fiction and non-fiction books.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creativity
Aging hand in hand with science

María Emilia Beyer

She is a biologist and a master in philosophy of science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is the director of Universum, Science Museum. Author of more than 30 popular science papers related to the natural sciences and health sciences, as well as the author of nine popular science books. Creator of the exhibitions Science with chocolate flavor, Women inventors and Dinosaurs among us, in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She has been a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Science and Technology Centers since 2021, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). 

Other activities involving the participant:

Aging hand in hand with science
Science and art
Science on a soccer field
Science, even in the kitchen!
How does CRISPR gene editing work?
Julieta Fierro: a forever star

Eva Vidal

Invitado de Honor

Eva Vidal holds a PhD in Telecommunications Engineering. She is currently an associate professor at the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB) and the University Research Institute for Sustainability Science and Technology (ISST) at the UPC. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is a member of the EduSTEAM research group on engineering and science education and the author of publications on sustainability and ethics in the field of  ICT, as well as in analogue and RF electronics. She is also a promoter of the NGO AUCOOP, which conducts ICT cooperation projects in schools and hospitals in developing countries. She has served as director of the UPC’s Centre for Development Cooperation and as the rector’s delegate to the Vice-Rectorate for Social Responsibility and Equality. She received the Alan Turing Social Commitment Prize at the 24th edition of the Telecommunications and IT Night Awards, and the 2025 UPC Award for Excellence in University Teaching.

Mara Dierssen

Invitado de Honor

Doctor Dierssen is Director of the Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Laboratory at the Centre for Genomic Regulation. She has made major contributions to our understanding of intellectual disability and genetic disorders. She has received numerous accolades for her work, including the prestigious Sisley-Lejeune Prize and the National Prize for Scientific Culture awarded by the Government of Catalonia, as well as the Ramón Trias Fargas, Jaime Blanco and Fundación Esteve prizes. These distinctions led to an invitation to contribute to Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2012) and to her election as a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia and the Academia Europaea. She has also been awarded the Silver Medal of the College of Physicians, of which she is an honorary member, and recognised as a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Cantabria.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creativity
Secrets of neuroplasticity

Salvador Macip

Invitado de Honor

Salvador Macip is a doctor, scientist and writer. He is also a professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Leicester, Dean at the Open University of Catalonia and researcher at the BarcelonaBeta Brain Research Centre. He is the author of 43 fiction and non-fiction books.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creativity
Secrets of neuroplasticity

Felipe A. Court

He is a neuroscientist, full time professor and director of the Research Center on Aging and Healthy Longevity at the Universidad Mayor, and Adjunct Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging (EU). His work explores the mechanisms of degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system in aging and neurodegenerative diseases, with more than 100 scientific publications and almost ten thousand citations. He has received multiple awards and led national and international projects that connect basic science with the development of innovative therapies.
Affiliations:
Full professor and director, Center for Aging and Healthy Longevity, Universidad Mayor, Chile
Director, National FONDAP Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism
Adjunct professor, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, USA

http://www.courtlab.cl
https://gerochile.cl/
http://www.buckinstitute.org

Other activities involving the participant:

Discover the causes of neurodegenerative diseases

María Emilia Beyer

She is a biologist and a master in philosophy of science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is the director of Universum, Science Museum. Author of more than 30 popular science papers related to the natural sciences and health sciences, as well as the author of nine popular science books. Creator of the exhibitions Science with chocolate flavor, Women inventors and Dinosaurs among us, in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She has been a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Science and Technology Centers since 2021, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). 

Other activities involving the participant:

Secrets of neuroplasticity
Science and art
Science on a soccer field
Science, even in the kitchen!
How does CRISPR gene editing work?
Julieta Fierro: a forever star

Javier Sierra

Comenzó su carrera como escritor viajando por medio mundo en busca de pruebas que sustentan en la idea de que, antes de las civilizaciones antiguas que conocemos, hubo una cultura madre avanzada, hoy desaparecida, de la que éstas heredaron la mayoría de sus sorprendentes conocimientos. Como reportero de varias revistas especializadas españolas recorrió cuatro continentes tomando nota cuidadosa de cuanto veía.

Other activities involving the participant:

Enigma and betrayal: Reconstructing history

Gabriela Gil

She is a consultant and advisor in the management of cultural and museological processes.
She is currently the technical secretary of the General Directorate of Visual Arts and the University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUAC) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2022, she has been the president of the Board of Directors of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Mexico. Her passion: books, museums and good wine.
 

María Emilia Beyer

She is a biologist and a master in philosophy of science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is the director of Universum, Science Museum. Author of more than 30 popular science papers related to the natural sciences and health sciences, as well as the author of nine popular science books. Creator of the exhibitions Science with chocolate flavor, Women inventors and Dinosaurs among us, in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She has been a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Science and Technology Centers since 2021, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). 

Other activities involving the participant:

Secrets of neuroplasticity
Aging hand in hand with science
Science on a soccer field
Science, even in the kitchen!
How does CRISPR gene editing work?
Julieta Fierro: a forever star

Gerardo Ceballos

Dr. Gerardo Ceballos is a well-known scientist in the world. This is the result of his frontier research in ecology and conservation issues, his efforts to make scientific knowledge fit with the crucial problems of society, the creation of bridges between ecology and conservation in order for humans to find the way to ecological sustainability and his efforts to increase the ecological knowledge of the general public. He is an expert in topics such as endangered species, protected natural areas, environmental planning and the linkage of conservation with development. His scientific output is remarkable, as he has published more than 560 scientific and popular articles, and 59 books. He is currently a Senior researcher C; and works at the Ecology and Wildlife Conservation Laboratory of the Institute of Ecology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Octavio Aburto

He studied the bachelor's degree in marine biology at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur; the master's degree at the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences, and the PhD at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of California San Diego. 
He is a professor and researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, but since 1994 he has dedicated much of his time photographing the marine and coastal ecosystems of Mexico; a professional activity that has led him to become part of the International League of Photographers for Conservation (ILCP) and to be an Explorer of the National Geographic Society.

Other activities involving the participant:

Navigating Mexican seas in search of social, economic, and environmental well-being
Ocean literacy: the importance of textbooks for bringing mexican seas closer to primary schools

Catalina López-Sagástegui

She is a marine biologist and master of science in biodiversity and marine conservation. She was a member of the scientific group in the projects of Alternative Futures for the cities of La Paz and Loreto, in Baja California Sur, and from the UC MEXUS Resident Researcher program. She has been the director of the Gulf of California Marine Program since 2017, which joined the Institute of the Americas in June 2021 as a programmatic line within the Environment and Climate Change Program. She is currently the Managing director of dataMares.
 

Other activities involving the participant:

Navigating Mexican seas in search of social, economic, and environmental well-being
Ocean literacy: the importance of textbooks for bringing mexican seas closer to primary schools