CINTECX brings cutting‑edge research closer to students with the immersive event “Green Alert

More than 150 secondary and high‑school students take part in a hybrid escape room combining science, technology and sustainability at CINTECX facilities

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he Research Center for Technologies, Energy and Industrial Processes (CINTECX) held the hybrid immersive event “Green Alert”, an innovative science outreach activity that brought together more than 140 students from five Galician secondary schools. Students from educational centers in Vilagarcía de Arousa, Baiona, A Guarda, Vigo and Beade were able to learn first‑hand about the research carried out at this University of Vigo center.

The activity took place in a hybrid escape‑room format, combining an on‑site exploration of CINTECX facilities with interaction in a virtual environment through electronic devices. This integration allowed participants to move through laboratories, technical areas and scientific infrastructures while solving different challenges related to sustainability, energy and technology.

Throughout the experience, students found QR codes strategically placed in different areas of the center, such as laboratories and scientific equipment. By scanning them, they accessed clues, explanatory content and new challenges that allowed them to progress through the game’s narrative, reinforcing the connection between the real and virtual environments and maintaining a continuous immersive experience.

Gamified scientific routes to solve an environmental alert

During the event, participants were organized into groups to complete eight different challenges, distributed across routes A and B of “Green Alert”. Each route allowed students to face real scientific problems, directly observing and analyzing the center’s equipment, systems and infrastructures, and applying scientific reasoning to solve the proposed tasks.

Routes A and B included challenges related to key research lines of the center, such as fuel analysis, advanced wastewater treatment techniques, the use of lasers in research, the operation of solar‑energy systems, or the role of critical raw materials in the energy transition. They also learned how eco‑adsorbent materials are designed and how a hydrogen boiler and a galvanic cell work.

Inclusive science to inspire scientific vocations from childhood

The “Green Alert” initiative also included an inclusive‑science component. As part of the open‑day activities, on Thursday, April 16, CINTECX welcomed around 30 children from the Roma Secretariat Foundation of Vigo, aged between 8 and 18, in an activity designed to bring science closer to groups with less access to this type of experience.

Divided into two groups, the youngest participants learned how a drone works, discovered the secrets of combustion, and experimented with wastewater treatment processes, while the center’s research staff answered their questions, sparking scientific curiosity in both children and teenagers.

Meanwhile, the older group took part in activities linked to the center’s research lines, such as critical raw materials, galvanic cells, photovoltaic systems and hydrogen boilers. They had to solve different puzzles to complete the route, following the same immersive escape‑room dynamics.

“Green Alert” is a project funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), with support from FEDER funds, and is part of CINTECX’s commitment to promoting open, accessible and inclusive science capable of reaching diverse audiences and inspiring scientific vocations from an early age.