| The Seneca Foundation intends to promote scientific and technical vocations among secondary school students | As a novelty, in this edition, the Olympics can be held in person or online The Ministry of Employment, Research and Universities, through the Seneca Foundation, has started the deadline to request aid for the organization of the Scientific Olympics from institutions such as universities, research centers, scientific academies, technology centers, professional colleges, associations, scientific societies, as well as other non-profit entities.
This call is integrated into the 2020 Action Plan of the Foundation. Proposals can be submitted until November 4, and will be destined to finance the organization of Scientific Olympics in 2020 or 2021. The general director of Research and Innovation, Isabel Fortea, explained that "the objective of the Olympics is to promote scientific and technical vocations among Secondary students, especially in STEM areas -Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics-, to support the promotion and dissemination of knowledge and the scientific spirit, and the increase of culture and the participation of young people in issues related to science and technology in the Region of Murcia ".
"We are the only community that has a specific action to support the Scientific Olympics," he added. As a novelty for this edition, the Olympics can be held in person or online, and in addition to the Olympics, the organizers will be able to propose complementary activities such as conferences, informative talks, workshops, exhibitions and scientific demonstrations. The Olympics consist of three phases, a first regional one, where through exams and practical tests the students are proposed to solve problems.
From this stage, between three and six students are selected to represent the Region of Murcia in the second phase or national phase.
The best students of the national will represent Spain in the third phase or international phase.
However, some Olympics are only regional, and do not have a national and international phase. More than 5,000 participants in 2019 Last year the Region hosted the record number of 18 scientific Olympics, in which more than 5,000 students from 300 Secondary schools participated, especially members of the last cycle of ESO and first cycle of Baccalaureate, and with 548 teachers involved.
40 Murcian students went on to the national phase and obtained two gold medals, one silver, one bronze, two diplomas and a second prize. The various Olympics cover not only traditional scientific areas such as physics, chemistry, mathematics or biology, but also economics and business, creativity, architecture, nutrition, civil engineering, and human sciences such as geography, classical languages ??and cultures or philosophy. The Scientific Olympics have been held in the Region since 2000, and 176 editions of the different specialties have been held, seven of them nationwide.
In these 20 years, more than 23,300 students from 300 secondary schools have participated.
The investment made by the Seneca Foundation for its celebration has been 425,000 euros. In the last nine years, the participating students have obtained eight gold, 14 silver, 33 bronze medals and 33 honorable mentions in national Olympics, in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, biology, philosophy, agri-food and agro-environmental, and geography, as well as a silver medal in the Ibero-American Olympiad.
