We introduce a pilot project to measure metallicitiy gradients for a sample of twenty nearby galaxies drawn from the Herschel Reference Survey (HRS), representative of normal, star-forming spiral galaxies. We have obtained optical spectroscopic observations using the Very Large Telescope with the FORS2 instrument in multi-object mode, targeting individual Hii and star-forming regions across the galaxy discs (P. I.: L. Cortese). From the ratios of the strong emission lines, we estimate the local gas-phase oxygen abundance and construct metallicity gradients. Combining these new data with Herschel PACS/SPIRE far-infrared photometric observations and Hi 21 cm line maps, to trace the cold dust and gas respectively, will allow the study of the relationships between stars, gas, dust and metals on sub-kiloparsec scales.
