The Seville Aquarium and the Pablo de Olavide University have signed a collaboration agreement for the adaptation and dissemination of scientific content in easy reading and plain language. This agreement will make the aquarium's information more accessible to different groups, with special attention to people with functional diversity, the elderly, or those with reading comprehension difficulties.
The agreement was signed by the rector of the Pablo de Olavide University, Francisco Oliva Blázquez, and the manager of the Seville Aquarium, Rocío Alcázar González, in a ceremony held in the aquarium's auditorium. Also present were Christiane Limbach, vice-dean of the UPO's Faculty of Humanities, and Mercedes de la Torre, professor of said faculty, promoter of the agreement and linguist specializing in the denominations of fish fauna in Spanish.
The rector of the UPO, Francisco Oliva Blázquez, highlighted the importance of this agreement in the university's social and educational work: "This agreement is excellent news, as it allows the knowledge generated at the university to reach the public through the Seville Aquarium. Moreover, it does so in a fundamental area such as linguistics and plain language, reinforcing the role of humanities in scientific dissemination. Agreements like this should serve as a model for the future, promoting collaboration between institutions and universities to bring knowledge closer to everyone ."
For her part, the manager of the Seville Aquarium, Rocío Alcázar González, stated: "Our goal is for the aquarium to be an accessible space for everyone. Thanks to the collaboration with the Pablo de Olavide University, we will be able to offer adapted materials that allow more people to enjoy and learn about the marine world ."
Objectives of the Agreement
This agreement includes the review and adaptation of educational and informative content of the Seville Aquarium, such as exhibition panels, web content, and other materials aimed at schoolchildren and the general public, with the aim of making them more accessible through the application of easy reading and plain language criteria.
The project is part of the VISUALECT research group at the Pablo de Olavide University, led by Ana M.ª Medina Reguera and Juan Antonio Prieto Velázquez, which works on text simplification to facilitate comprehension.
Through this initiative, both institutions reinforce their commitment to inclusive scientific dissemination, ensuring access to marine knowledge for all sectors of society.