Engage Nepal with Science (Scotland / Nepal)
Engage Nepal with Science (ENwS) believes that STEM education helps promote critical and innovative thinking and problem-solving skills, and boosts curiosity; STEM helps us to understand the world around us.
Dr Alba Abad leads Engage Nepal With Science. She is a life science researcher at the Welcome Centre for Cell Biology (University of Edinburgh). Today, ENwS represents a strong collaboration between her university and Nepal's Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology.
ENwS has been working with Nepalese communities since 2019, aiming to empower and build confidence in STEM.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation provided financial support to Engage Nepal With Science and the project "Connecting the Climate Challenge: Partnering Communities in Scotland and Nepal to tackle the climate crisis".
Through this project, ENwS aims to digitally partner communities in Nepal and Scotland.
Nepal is directly impacted by climate change but still underdeveloped in terms of green behaviours. On the other hand, Scotland is dedicated to taking measures to decelerate climate change while not being not as affected by it. This project will allow participants to learn from each other's experiences and work together to find solutions to protect the environment.
For example, students have observed microorganisms in drinking water all over Nepal. As a result, they are now boiling the water before drinking it and encouraging their communities to do so. So far, 1.500 persons were directly positively impacted by the project just considering the students and teachers, with a snowball effect to their families and communities.
Primary and secondary school pupils from different (remote) climate areas in Scotland and Nepal are the project's primary audience, acting as entry points to the broader community. The project is already working with 20 schools.
The support from the Eurofins Foundation helped extend the impact of the project to 20 schools more (10 in Scotland and 10 in Nepal). The funds were used to develop environmental science-kits that were donated to the schools to perform science experiments assessing causes and effects of climate change.
It has also helped ENwS organise an event in Nepal for schools to network, share, reflect and discuss the climate crisis and how to tackle it both locally and globally through environmental engagement. The funds also enabled ENwS to work with Scottish and Nepali artists to create artwork and foster conversation and engagement on the topic of climate change.
Thanks to this project, 60% of the student participants show a more optimistic view for the future of the climate and 25% of students demonstrated an increased knowledge of climate change issues.
In 2023/2024, the Eurofins Foundation renews its support to this project, allowing ENwS to reach more schools in Scotland and Nepal.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
