The meeting brought together important science speakers, who addressed topics related to the way of communicating and the relevance that this process has in different investigations. In addition to the exhibitions, practical workshops were held with professionals.

Raising awareness about the need to communicate science to the community effectively by researchers and communicators working together was the main objective of the seminar called “Science Communication: The Role of Researchers When Communicating” , organized jointly by the U. of La Serena, through the Faculty of Sciences and the Research and Development Directorate, and the Integrated Monitoring System of Forest Ecosystems (SIMEF).

Ehe meeting, which was attended by the Seremi of Agriculture, Rodrigo Órdenes Reyes, university authorities, representatives of the Forestry Institute, SIMEF professionals, researchers, communicators and students, included expository talks by prominent professionals.

The central speaker was Dr. Florencia Tevy, a prominent geneticist and scientific communicator for TV, radio and the written press, who referred to her experience in dissemination and how the way of communicating impacts her career.

For Dr. Tevy, one of the main factors in communicating science is education, “which has been preached for 30 years, but it is still education. To reach the population, on the one hand, it is education, and on the other, it is the decision makers, who are the ones to whom we give trust and responsibility through voting. However, we must also work together with journalists, who are the ones who help our investigation reach everywhere.”

Likewise, the Doctor in History of Science and Scientific Communication and academic from the Alberto Hurtado University, Lorena Valderrama, spoke, who referred to the challenges in this area with the talk “Disseminating the sciences in Chile: Identity, specialization and challenges.”

The day of presentations ended with a joint talk between the entomologist, academic and ULS researcher, Dr. Jaime Pizarro-Araya, and the SIMEF journalist, Richard Velásquez, who shared their experience on the first biodiversity inventory, as a successful case of dissemination. scientific.

On this occasion, they demonstrated that thanks to well-organized work and agreeing on the topics to be disseminated, both parties achieve success, thus delivering a clear and well-codified message to the audience, which is the one who wants to know about new topics and who It is provided by scientists who see the need to transfer their knowledge through direct communication.

The event had the support of the Regional Government, the Forestry Institute (INFOR), the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), the Natural Resources Information Center (CIREN), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) , the Global Environment Forum (GEF), Panguipulli Model Forest, Cachapoal Model Forest and the Aerophotogrammetric Service of the Chilean Air Force (SAF).

Written by Patricia Castro, DirCom

We share an opinion column by Dr. Rodolfo Angeloni, astronomer from the University of La Serena, who explains the importance of June 10 to be able to evaluate the conditions and observe how the total solar eclipse will be seen on July 2.

See the column published today by newspaper El Día here

The activity had a large presence of Pedagogy students from the ULS.

Highlighting the importance of childhood in contemporary biopolitical reflection was the main objective of the “Biopolitics of Childhood” Conversation, organized by the Department of Education together with the Interdisciplinary Center for Latin American Studies of the University of La Serena.

The discussion included the participation of academics Dr. Alberto Moreno (UV), Desirée López de Maturana (ULS), José Olivares (ULS) and Rodrigo Castillo (UCN).

For Alberto Moreno, academic exhibitor, it is important to be able to generate spaces where these topics are discussed, especially with pedagogy students, since it allows them to propose another type of education. “With this type of activities, students can understand that the university is an epistemological and political project at the same time and it is important that they can participate in this type of activities since it allows them to project an education different from the one we have,” he said. .

During the activity, which took place in the Multipurpose Room of the Isabel Bongard Campus, the work currently being carried out in educational settings regarding childhood education was discussed, proposing new methods of school training.

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, DirCom

This instance plans to benefit more than a thousand first and second year students of the institution and high school students.

The Tutor School is part of the work plan of the Program to Support Student Permanence, Performance, Leveling and Comprehensive Development (APRENDE ULS) of the Academic Vice-Rector's Office, and is aimed at students who fulfill the role of tutor ( a) in the different support programs belonging to the University of La Serena.

Its objective is to train tutors for the different ULS support programs: I want to be an Education Professional, Inclusion and Disability Office, Mentoring Program and PACE. Tutors will receive comprehensive training in 5 training modules, which will provide them with psycho-educational and pedagogical skills and tools that can be used in tutoring contexts.

For the ULS Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón, being a tutor is a fundamental task of support and collaborative work between students, academics and professionals who are part of the university community. “Tutors are important, because they contribute from training, from support, from a horizontal perspective towards their first and second year peers in the academic area. This allows not only to acquire experiences, but also to develop a series of skills such as empathy, responsibility and, why not say it, also personal growth. I want to congratulate each and every one of you who is beginning your qualification and always remember that the work of teaching is not minor, on the contrary, it is fundamental for our society,” she indicated during the launch activity.

In this same sense, José Patricio Frías, Tutor Coordinator APRENDE ULS and Dentistry student, expressed: “I think it is really important to highlight the role that a tutor has, who must not only present a topic, but also generate a bond of trust for support, inform and accompany them in these first steps in their higher education studies and all the changes and processes that entail.”

On the other hand, María José Mercado, PACE ULS Tutor, gave her testimony as a tutor to those attending the presentation. “I have been a tutor for the Architecture degree for three years and I feel that it has been a constant challenge, being able to design a tutorial for my degree that is so practical, but I am happy to see my tutors, every time they overcome their difficulties, I am proud to be able to help my classmates from the first years, it is a noble task and a great support in this change between middle school and higher education,” she said.

The Tutor School is made up of two specific instances. Loreto Garrido, Academic Coordinator APRENDE ULS, explained that “the first corresponds to the work of enabling tutors for the accompaniment programs, in which a series of workshops will be held that will allow tutors to be trained based on certain skills required to function in the field.” time to run the tutorials. This authorization will be a requirement to begin working with students and obtain the Tutoring Scholarship, as established by extensive decree 095 of our university. The second instance, she explained, corresponds to the training or workshops that will be developed throughout the academic period and that will reinforce and / or update the modules carried out in the initial qualification.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, APRENDE ULS Program

The “Make it! ULS - Projects and Prototypes Fair", was born as an instance that allows to publicize the different research initiatives, applied research, generation of prototypes and innovation, generated by both students and academics of the University of La Serena, in the framework of dissemination to the university community and citizens.

This call is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, academics and researchers who are developing (or have recently completed) research projects and/or innovative prototypes, who consider projection for new projects/prototypes, and who are adapt to the needs of the Coquimbo Region.

How do I register my project/prototype and what are the important dates?

Applications will be made electronically through the Integrated Teaching Technology Platform, Phoenix.

- Start of Applications: Friday, May 24, 2019

- Deadline for sending background information: Wednesday, June 12, 2019

- Project and/or prototype selection deadline: Friday, June 14, 2019

- Publication of results: Monday, June 17, 2019

The event will take place on Wednesday, June 26, 2019, from 09:00 a.m. to 17:30 p.m., on the Engineering field, located on the Ignacio Domeyko Campus, and will be open to the university community and citizens.

They convene the Research and Development Directorate, the Science and Technology Dissemination and Dissemination team belonging to the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies, in conjunction with the FIULS 2030 Project, framed in the Corfo New Engineering for 2030-regions program.

More than 120 academic and non-academic officials will act in a network of sensors to evaluate with participation, realism and objectivity the institutional progress in its strategic development plan and the commitments derived from the previous accreditation. On this occasion, ULS will innovate in the forms of participation, including work on subcommittees or as a key informant.

With the objective of strengthening a culture of comprehensive quality management, renewing its institutional accreditation and, eventually, improving it, the University of La Serena (ULS) made official on May 17, the way in which the Process of Self-assessment 2019, highlighting that on this occasion there will be innovations in the spaces and forms of participation.

The first modality of participation will be through subcommittees that, organized in the 4 areas to which ULS is presented (Institutional Management, Undergraduate Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment), will act as a network of sensors to detect strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. “It is a network of people and talents that will act as sensors that will help us take the pulse of a series of key processes in the quality of the University, through the collection and analysis of institutional data and the perceptions of academic officials. and non-academics, students, graduates, employers and partners,” explained Rector Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, in the speech with which he sealed the beginning of this important process and in which, symbolically, the members of the subcommittees committed , before the university community and the Rector himself, to successfully carry out the mission of delivering, on November 30, 2019, the first draft of the chapter of each area, to give way to the construction of the ULS Institutional Self-Assessment Report, whose delivery to CNA is projected for the end of March 2020.

To ensure that the Self-Evaluation is carried out as planned and with conditions to successfully complete the mission, the Rector Avilés has entrusted the institutional coordination of the Process to the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón Vergara, whose role will be to safeguard the approach. systemic of the tasks that self-evaluation demands, favoring the conditions so that the community feels called to participate.

Work of the Subcommittees

The work will be carried out through 4 subcommittees from the areas of Institutional Management, Undergraduate Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment, headed, respectively, by the Academic Vice-Rector, Dr. Alejandra Torrejón; the Vice-Rector for Economic and Administrative Affairs, Dr. Armando Mansilla; the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Eduardo Notte; and the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, Mg. Carlos Varas.

Each subcommittee is made up, in the first instance, of approximately 30 academic and non-academic officials, who will meet weekly to respond to the trust that Rector Avilés has placed in them to conduct the critical analysis of the area, based on processes of data collection, measurement, analysis and weighting. 

Regarding this process, Rector Avilés indicated that “we have chosen to carry out the Self-Evaluation report on a participatory process, in accordance with the demands imposed on us by facing, for the first time, an accreditation process classified as a Complex University. I trust that this network of people who will act as sensors will manage to carry out the task, massively involving the university community and external actors, in the massive consultation on our institutional direction.”

The next plenary meeting, in which the 4 subcommittees meet with the executive team and the Rector, will take place on Wednesday, June 19, in the Plenary Room. Before that date, the subcommittees will have met on 4 occasions, advancing in the review of data, documentation and projecting the way in which they hope to carry out the work of consulting key informants.

Strategic, technological and communication support

The Self-assessment work that the ULS will carry out during 2019 will have professional support from the teams of the Directorate of Strategic Development and Quality (DIDEC), the Center for Informatics and Computing (CICULS) and the Directorate of Strategic Communication (DIRCOM). .

From DIDEC, an online institutional data set was available in a repository prepared by CICULS for the subcommittees. Additionally, a DIDEC professional will be part of each subcommittee, to support the access and/or generation of information. The institutional data repository is available in PHOENIX ULS, in the Analysis Platform. “The subcommittees will find there data and official documentation of the institution, in the format of dashboards, yearbooks, reports, guidelines and other modalities. The objective is to make the search and collection of data more efficient, and to detect in time information needs that can be generated by the DIDEC in collaboration with other units,” explains Dr. César Espíndola, Director of the DIDEC.

CICULS professionals will also participate in the subcommittees, in order to facilitate the use and knowledge of the technological systems that the institution has to support management and decision-making in the 3 university functions: Teaching, Research and Link with the Environment. “As CICULS we can contribute by accompanying the development of skills for the use of the technological supports that the University has and that facilitate management,” says Andrés Moya, Director of CICULS.

For its part, the ULS 2019 Self-Assessment will also have communication support both in the design of the process and in the communication of the concept and the call for the key informant phase. The Director of Strategic Communication, Carola Espinoza, summarizes it as follows: “As it is a participatory process, self-assessment requires incorporating the communication variable, both in its global design and in the actions that allow for the convening of key informants, explaining the meaning and importance of being part of the process and, later, knowing the results of this broad exercise of review of our work.”

In this last sense, Rector Avilés stated, the promotional campaign with which the ULS Self-Assessment was launched, coined the phrase “Your gaze, our best sensor”, appealing to it to be a realistic, objective and participatory process. “A network of sensors that leads us to know exactly what we do well, what is failing and what we can improve.”

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