Cientista Regressa à Escola prizes awarded during the European Researchers Night 2022

Exhibition of drawings and sentences at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown.

From left to right: Joana Bordalo (co-founder and coordinator of Cientista Regressa à Escola), Martim, Luísa, Lídia, Joana Moscoso (co-founder and director of Native Scientist) and Margarida

From left to right: Joana Bordalo (co-founder and coordinator of Cientista Regressa à Escola), Mara Jesus, Joana Moscoso (co-founder and director of Native Scientist). Planeta Tangerina offered the book "La Fora" to all the students that were awarded.

To close the first year of the new science education programme Cientista Regressa à Escola, Native Scientist awarded 5 students during the European Researchers Night.

In 2022, 500 students participated in the Cientista Regressa à Escola workshops. Before each workshop, students drew a scientist or the science workshop and wrote a sentence about what they would do if they were a scientist. At the end of the school year, after assessing the submission, a jury of 5 people selected the most original ones. The jury was composed of Fátima Fonseca (Fundação Luso Americana para o Desenvolvimento), Luís Amaral (Governo Regional dos Açores), Catarina Ramos (Fundação Champalimaud), Inês Domingues (Instituto de Medicina Molecular) and Nuno Negrões (Native Scientist).

The five winners, aged between 8 and 10 years old, and their families were invited to the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, coming from different towns all over Portugal. The ceremony occurred on the 30th of September during the European Researchers Night, which was organised by Native Scientist, Champalimaud Foundation and Instituto de Medicina Molecular. The European Researchers Night had a core programme built around a set of science communication projects and immersive experiences, that targeted school students and also their families.

Luísa, 10 years old, Mara, 8 years old, and Margarida, 9 years old, won the “Best Drawing” and Lídia and Martim, both 10 years old, won the “Best Sentence” awards. Native Scientist offered a Cientista Regressa à Escola tote bag and the book “Outside”, kindly supported by Planeta Tangerina, to the winners.

Best Sentences:

“Se eu fosse um cientista... adoraria a minha profissão porque se aprende muito e nunca faz mal descobrir coisas novas.” (Martim, Montemor-o-Novo 10 years old)

[“If I were a scientist... I would love my profession because one learn a lot and it never hurts to discover new things.”]

“Se eu fosse uma cientista... fazia todo o tipo de experiências pois eu gosto de saber o porquê e o como das coisa que nos rodeiam e por isso adoro ciências.” (Lídia, 10 years old, Tomar)

[“If I were a scientist... I would do all kinds of experiments because I like to know the why and how of things around us and that's why I love science.”]

Best Drawings:

Margarida, 9 years old, Ponte de Sor

Mara, 8 years old, Mértola

Luísa, 10 years old, Montemor-o-Novo

About Native Scientist

Created by international migrant scientists for international migrant children, Native Scientist is a young and passionate multi-award-winning, European-wide, non-profit organisation that unites advocates for diversity and inclusion in science and education. In the classroom or beyond, Native Scientist actively engages with 200+ scientists every year, inspiring over 1,000 pupils to consider a science-related career and feel proud to use their heritage language.