On a sunny day in Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico opened its doors to the public for its annual Dia Aberto do Técnico (Open Day), and this year was the biggest edition ever. According to Técnico, more than 3,300 visitors came to campus, including school groups, families, and plenty of young future scientists and engineers eager to explore what goes on behind the scenes.
The Open Day is all about making science accessible: labs become interactive spaces, researchers step out of their usual routines, and visitors get hands-on experiences across a wide range of topics, from engineering and physics to sustainability and the environment.
At CONNECT, we were right in the middle of it.
We took this opportunity to show our bioterium at the Hydraulics and Environment Lab. Under the activity “Fluvial connectivity: science and engineering”, visitors could see firsthand how river barriers affect fish movement and why designing better solutions matters for biodiversity, by seeing the artificial channel equipped with a rock ramp designed to simulate how fish move across obstacles like weirs, and how they interact with invasive species.
At the same time, we joined the Ciência dos Pequeninos space with a more playful activity: “The great journey of the adventurous fish.” Here, younger visitors followed the story of Maria Lampreia (a character inspired by the lamprey species) as she tried to navigate Portuguese rivers.
To make things interactive, kids worked on a puzzle of Portugal’s main river basins, adding river names and identifying both large and small dams along the way. It quickly became clear, even to the youngest participants, that truly free-flowing rivers are now rare in Portugal.
The response was fantastic. Dozens of children (and quite a few parents!) engaged with the activities, asked questions, and showed genuine curiosity about rivers, fish migration, and the impact of human infrastructure.
For us, it was a great reminder of why outreach matters. Explaining concepts like connectivity, hydropower, and ecosystem impacts outside the academic world is not always easy, but when a child starts asking how a fish can “climb” a dam, you know you’re on the right track.
A big thank you to GEOTA Rios Livres who helped with the activity and to everyone who stopped by, and especially to the young “river explorers” who took on Maria Lampreia’s journey with so much enthusiasm.
Want to know more about this year’s Open Day? Check it out on Técnico’s webpage.
