Very proud to have played a role in the formation of this new and important partnership between Native Scientist and the University of Tübingen (LEAD Graduate School and Research Network; Hector Research Institute for Education Sciences and Psychology). I look forward to working with colleagues at both institution on science education and heritage language learning.

To access the original, please click here. To see a press release on the Native Scientist website, please see here.

Below is a reproduction of the press release on the LEAD website:

New partnership with Native Scientist

The goal is to assess science workshops for migrant children and adolescents

The LEAD Graduate School & Research Network and the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology are pleased to announce a new partnership with Native Scientist, an award-winning non-profit organization based in United Kingdom.

The mission of Native Scientist is to inspire ethnic minority pupils to pursue higher education and to careers in STEM (MINT) disciplines, to empower international scientists to increase the impact of their research, and to build a community of advocates for diversity and equality in education and science. Since its foundation in 2013, Native Scientist has organized over 150 workshops in ten different languages, reaching over 1,000 pupils every year in six European countries (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, The Netherlands and Norway).

The objective of this partnership is to evaluate the effectiveness of innovative educational programmes that promote both science and heritage language skills in migrant children and adolescents throughout Europe.

Dr Joana Moscoso, one of the founders of Native Scientist, says: “Our dream is not only to deliver great programmes for speakers of heritage languages, but also to understand why our programmes work and how we can further improve them. We are therefore thrilled to be collaborating with the University of Tübingen, which will take our evaluation procedures to the highest level.”

Professor Ulrich Trautwein, Director of the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology and of the LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, added: “The Native Scientists program is a highly innovative and ambitious educational intervention that is based on a profound theoretical framework. We are excited to study and, perhaps, add to the effectiveness of the program by applying rigorous research designs.”

Professor Patrick Rebuschat, Distinguished International Professor at Tübingen’s LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, commented: “This is a wonderful opportunity for all involved. Native Scientist has done impressive work over the past six years, motivating thousands of young migrant children throughout Europe to consider a career in STEM. We are thrilled to be joining forces to further improve the effectiveness of their excellent STEM+LANG workshops.”

For more questions, or to get involved, please email Ulrich Trautwein or Patrick Rebuschat.

From left to right: Patrick Rebuschat, Native Scientist R&D Advisor (LEAD), Jessika Golle (Hector Research Institute/LEAD), Joana Moscoso, Co-founder and Director of Native Scientist, Julia Schiefer (Hector Research Institute/LEAD), Ulrich Trautwein (Hector Research Institute/LEAD)