Pedro Duque has accepted an invitation to inaugurate the first ever Science and Climate Change Week next Saturday at the Gandia campus of Valencia University.

During the conference, that will end on October 26th with a talk by the scientific director of the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Manuel Toria, the public is invited to attend a series of lectures, workshops and exhibitions covering a broad range of topics related to the main theme.

These include talks by a number of leading experts covering subjects as diverse as 'Climate change marker events', 'Climate change indicators in the Mediterranean', 'The science of ancient Egypt', 'The science of unbalanced systems' or 'The science of climate change'.

The initiative, which is being organised by JoiNsience, has the backing of Gandia town council, Valencia University, GasNatural Cegas and Fustabloc, and it is planned to stage the event every two years.

Pedro Duque became the first Spaniard in space in 1998, when he took part in a Discovery space shuttle mission, and went on to complete a second trip in 2003 on board a Russian-made Soyuz rocket.