Alèxia, Victoria and Cristina, winners of the Exporecerca prize for a work of biodegradable plastics, visit the IDAEA

Teresa Moreno, Director of the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), received on 23rd May three students who won the Exporecerca Jove awards. This contest was held on 28th February and, 1st and 2nd March 2019 in the Farga de Hospitalet de Llobregat in its 20 edition.

Alèxia Córdoba Masip, Victoria Dugo Pradas and Cristina Bros are three students of 4th of ESO at the Escola Mare de Déu de la Salut in Sabadell and won the prize in Category B of the contest for a work on the study of a biodegradable plastic. Thanks to this, they have been able to visit the facilities of IDAEA by their Director and some of the researchers. Specifically, the
Environmental Geochemistry and Atmospheric Research and Water, Environmental and Food Chemistry groups, have explained their main lines of research and how is the work carried out in their laboratories.

The Exporecerca Jove is an international research fair open to the public held since 2000, where young people from high school and high school from around the world can present their research projects for three days. During the days of the contest, the participants teach their works that are evaluated by a jury. The Exporecerca Jove Jury is organized by the Associació per Promoure la Recerca Jove [Association to Promote Young Researchers](MAGMA), and is made up of numerous specialists in different branches of knowledge unrelated to the association, and in an altruistic manner they dedicate a part of their time to evaluate the works that are presented in this fair.

Another interesting aspect of this contest is that, although most of the participants are Catalan, students from other autonomous communities and from other countries of the world also participate, which makes Exporecerca Jove a very enriching experience both at an academic and cultural level.

Finally, the Exporecerca Jove participants opt for the prizes provided by the sponsors and the Intel Mentions and, most importantly, they allow the participants to continue the task of disseminating their research in other fairs or meetings of national or international scope.