Two “Native Scientists” in Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise in Europe

Mariana Alves and Joana Moscoso have been selected as Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise by Euclid Network.

Euclid Network fosters social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Europe, and has launched an initiative called “Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise” to spotlight and celebrate women leaders in Europe who have made a significant positive impact in the social enterprise sector. The selected candidates have been revealed on 2021’s International Women’s Day, 8th March, and include our “Native Scientists” Joana Moscoso and Mariana Alves.

Mariana Alves, selected as Social Innovator, has been collaborating with Native Scientist for 2.5 years as Partnerships & Project Manager, and last year she designed and launched Native’s spin-off project “Cartas com Ciência” (Letters with Science), together with Rafael Galupa. Cartas com Ciência is an educational letter exchange programme that aims to inspire Portuguese-speaking children from unprivileged communities across the globe to consider higher education and scientific careers.

Mariana Alves and Rafael Galupa are the founders and directors of

Native’s spin-off project “Cartas com Ciência”

“Mariana has an extraordinary energy and passion, which together with her vision and diligence, have been key to the success of the project, which has reached nearly a hundred pupils and 400+ scientists in just nine months. It’s a real pleasure and inspiration to work alongside Mariana”, says her partner in Cartas com Ciência.

The young Social Innovator shared: “I am honored to be part of the Euclid Network Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise list. I see it as a recognition of the potential of Cartas com Ciência to drive positive change and a celebration of what we have achieved so far with the support of our nurturing entrepreneurial nest of Native Scientist. It is even more exciting to be on this list alongside Joana Moscoso, who is a very generous mentor. I am looking forward to connecting and learning from the inspiring women of this network.”

The list also includes Native Scientist’s Director and co-founder Joana Moscoso, who was nominated and selected as Social Entrepreneur for co-founding Chaperone, the first online marketplace specialized in career development for scientists.

Joana Moscoso is a Co-founder and the Director of Native Scientist.

It was nominated for her work with co-founder Pedro Resende at Chaperone,

the world’s first online marketplace of career development for scientists.

Joana says “I am really honored to be in this list and I am also very proud to see Mariana in it. It means a lot and gives us “fuel” to keep going, to break down those barriers that sometimes we face. I would like to deeply thank Pedro Resende, who nominated me for the award and with whom I co-founded Chaperone. I always say that Entrepreneurship happens when individuals decide not to ignore their ideas and passion. Today I would like to add that Social Entrepreneurship happens when individuals decide not to ignore their ideas and passion, and put society’s needs at the heart of their business.”

These recognitions confirm Mariana’s and Joana’s role in driving societal change through the innovative and inspiring projects they have founded and have been directing.

About Mariana Alves: Mariana is a PhD student at EMBL, one of Europe’s flagship laboratories for basic research in molecular biology. She is trying to understand how a single cell develops into a complex embryo and organism. Mariana devotes a lot of her free time to science outreach including radio broadcasting. She has lived previously in Denmark and the UK. Mariana loves traveling, photography and performing arts shows. Mariana dreams of a career where she combines her passion for outreach and her curiosity for scientific mechanisms.

About Joana Moscoso: Joana believes in science and innovation for the benefit of humankind. This is what led her to become a scientist and an entrepreneur. Joana co-founded two companies and works in a deep tech company. At Native Scientist, a non-profit, scientists help migrant children access more and better science and language education. At Chaperone, an online marketplace, scientists access online quality and personalised career support. At Smart Separations, Joana helps bring to the market micro and nanotechnologies that improve quality of life. She has a PhD from Imperial College London and has been recognised an MIT Innovator Under 35. Joana loves spending time with friends and food. She dreams of having her own restaurant one day.