Native Scientists Annual Meeting: celebrating successes and defining future priorities

Another year passed for the Native family, sharing achievements and plans during the Annual Meeting on the 26th of November.

Taking place on the last Saturday of November, Native Scientists annual meeting is an all-staff, all-hands space for sharing information, exchanging knowledge and strengthening the community. Joana Moscoso, Native Scientist Co-founder and Director, made a review of Native Scientists' year's success and goals for the future. "2021 saw the start of our professionalisation process. We now have five members of staff working full time to ensure the continuity of our work and mission," says Joana. This year, approaching our 10th anniversary, Native adopted a new logo and name, reflecting the dynamic and diverse community and the plurality of programmes: we are now Native Scientists. To continue the exciting meeting, Afonso Bento and Joana Bordalo shared the updates from the two main programmes within the Native portfolio: Native Schools and Cientista Regressa à Escola (Scientist Returns to School). Thousands of children have had a chance to be exposed to sciences through our programmes in the last year, and possibly more will have the same opportunity in the upcoming year. "It has been a beautiful year working on exciting projects and achieving so much, also thanks to new EU fundings recognising the value of our work," says Joana Bordalo.

The future will see more challenges to increase our impact and continue the professionalisation process. However, the Native family has strong roots, with many volunteers working alongside the core members to continue promoting science literacy and reducing inequalities. "I've been part of the Native's family for 9 of its 10 years, working on different areas, and it's amazing to see how this organisation continues to thrive," says Carina Santos, a Native Scientists member.

Remarkably, the meeting included Miguel Herdade, Associate Director of the Ambition Institute, as guest speaker. He talked about inequalities in education and social integration and showed the Native Scientists community, joining online from all over Europe, the impact of disadvantaged upbringing on children's future, highlighting the importance of projects aimed at reducing the gap in accessing opportunities, as we do at Native.