Summary

This is Miquel Duran, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Girona. I contribute almost daily to my blog Edunomia (in Catalan) where I write about Higher Education, Social Networks, Science Communication, and other stuff. Since September 2018 I have been writing Weeknotes. Here you will find an overview of my career, interests, projects, activities, and schedule. Besides my personal blog Edunomia, I contribute strongly and often to website #magsci on our Project on Magic and Science. In 2019, because of #iypt2019, I contributed to a weekly game with the Periodic Table: #52gamespt. A whole collection of #52gamespt and many posts of #magsci are written in English.

For 2020, I am opening a new series of posts on applied artificial intelligence, and also on quantum computing. Those posts will feature games and magic tricks whose goal is to make complex concepts more understandable. They will complement our earlier efforts to explain complex concepts in science using analogies, metaphors, and magic.

I am affiliated with the Institue of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis, within research group Theoretical Chemistry, Modelling and Molecular Engineering. I am also a member of the Cathedra for Scientific Culture and Digital Communication

Research Projects

• I am currently involved in the research project "Role of nonexonic genetic variants in Brugada Syndrome" as a co-main resercher along with Dr. Sara Pagans (UdG and IdIBGi). My main research lines are weak intermolecular interactions, effects of electric fields, electron densities, aromaticity, and in general molecular structure and reactivity. I use to collaborate with Dr. Miquel Solà and Dr. Sílvia Simon.
• Moreover, I am the co-leader of a broad-scope science communication project (co-leader: Dr. Fernando Blasco, UPolitMadrid), "From the Magic of Science to the Science of Magic", whose main events are our annual Summer Camp on Magic and Science (#cemc) and the Meeting of Magic, Science, and Education, every 2 years (#ecme), along with online activites, website, blog, and science fairs.

Projects on Science Communication

• Low-cost communication of research (#clowcore)
• Simple communication of basic concepts in Quantum Chemistry
• Magic and Science
• Social and digital communication of science

Activities you may be interested in.

• International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements 2019, #iypt2019: Stage show, lecture or workshop "Mendeleiev's Secrets", #mendsec
• Open Knowledge, Wikipedia and related projects
• Summer Camp on Magic and Science, #cemc
• Meeting on Science, Magic, and Education, #ecme
• TEDx events: TEDxUdG, TEDxGironaWomen
• Lectures and talks. Many presentations are uploaded to my SlideShare. Currently delivering:
  • The Magic and Science of the Rubik's Cube
  • Mendeleiev's Secrets (on the Periodic Table)
  • 5 reasons not to communicate research and science
  • Wikispace: Open Science and Education
  • Low Cost, Sustainable Communication of Science
  • 52 Games with the Periodic Table
• Workshops
  • The Magic of the Periodic Table
  • Magic with Polycubes
  • WeekDayRings
  • Mathemagic of Science
  • 52 Games with the Periodic Table
• MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses)