The IHC will be taking part in the commemoration of Science and Technology Week and the National Day of Scientific Culture, which is celebrated on 24 November, with free activities open to the public in Évora, Lisbon, and Figueira da Foz.

On 20 November, the photographic exhibition PHONLAB: repensar centros e periferias científicas no século XX [PHONLAB: rethinking scientific centres and peripheries in the 20th century] will open at the University of Évora’s Espírito Santo College. The exhibition attempts to answer some of the questions posed by the PHONLAB project, namely, how can it be explained that, in a country considered peripheral and scientifically backward, there was an Experimental Phonetics Laboratory considered to be the most advanced in Europe and where scientists from all over the world passed through? On display until 24 November, its activities culminate precisely with a guided tour on National Scientific Culture Day.

The seminar Diálogos entre ciência, tecnologia e emblemática [Dialogues between science, technology and emblematics] will be held in Lisbon on 21 November in collaboration with the Lisbon Geographical Society. Accompanied by a bibliographical exhibition, it will feature guest speakers Ana Cristina Martins, Segismundo Ramires Pinto and Vítor Escudero, and will be held in a hybrid format, with free admission.

On 23 November in Lisbon, the Abrir Abril project team promotes the 2nd Associative Meeting, which will bring together researchers and activists from the associative and community development movements. We’ll hear from activists from two generations, those who lived through the revolutionary process and the so-called Sons of the Dawn [Filhos da Madrugada]. The event will take place at 6pm at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, with free admission.

Lastly, on 24 November, those in the vicinity of Figueira da Foz will have the opportunity to learn more about the ethnographic collections at the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum, on a guided tour organised by the TRANSMAT team. The aim of the visit is to publicise some of the results of the project, highlighting the biographies of objects from Brazil, Timor, Angola and Mozambique. How did they arrive in Portugal and when? Who collected them and in what circumstances?

Science and Technology Week is organised nationwide by Ciência Viva, the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture, and aims to “better know our scientists, what they research, and their contributions to the advancement of knowledge and the well-being of society”. The IHC, as part of its History in the Public Sphere Programme and its mission to promote historical culture, could not miss the call.