By Angeles Medina and Ines M. Anton | Apadrina la Ciencia members
Dear supporters,
We hope you are fine and you have had a good summer.
Let us insist on how much we value your generous contribution, which helps us uphold our commitment to promoting scientific vocations, particularly among children and adults in underserved communities.
As published by El País recently, “a recent study has revealed that over half of Nobel Prizes laureates in scientific fields come from families within the top 5% of income earners in their respective countries”. What this finding suggests is that growing up in an affluent family opens doors to superior education and greater opportunities to develop one’s potential. Unfortunately, gifted children from low-income backgrounds, especially in countries with limited access to education and fewer resources, see their talent wasted. Failing to support them not only limits their individual potential, but also deprives society of the contribution these individuals could make.
Since in Apadrina la Ciencia we are strongly committed to inclusion and diversity, we concentrate our efforts on reaching children and adults from underserved communities. Some of the actions that we carry out are workshops, hands-on experiments, and science outreach talks in schools in disadvantaged areas aimed at sparking children’s curiosity, developing science skills while boosting self-confidence and motivation around science.
On the other hand, pursuing a PhD often comes with significant financial barriers as many candidates in Spain face precarious conditions forcing them to rely on personal or family support. However, not all students have the privilege of family support or personal savings to fund their studies. The financial challenges they have to face can discourage talented individuals from pursuing or completing their doctoral studies, leading to a lack of diversity and representation in research fields. In order to narrow the achievement gap and widen the opportunity gap, Apadrina la Ciencia offers pre-doctoral contracts to support early-career researchers, especially those from low-income backgrounds. This way we do our bit to alleviate financial barriers, enabling students to focus on their research without the distraction of financial strain.
We strongly believe that fostering inclusive and supportive environments in science not only ensures equitable opportunities for all individuals, but also enriches the scientific community, which will be better equipped to address the needs of a varied population.
We do not forget that these initiatives are possible thanks to people like you. Once again, thank you so much for being there and supporting us with your donations.
“Padrinos para los futuros científicos. La asociación a nivel nacional 'Apadrina la ciencia' trató de promover vocaciones científicas en 'Expofamily'”:
Article in El País: “¿Es de ricos ganar el Nobel? Siete gráficos curiosos y sin política:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
