The women who helped shape European science deserve a place in its history.
Across Europe, migration, displacement and scientific progress have long been closely connected. Scientists have crossed borders because of war, persecution, political repression and changing social conditions, bringing knowledge, expertise and new ideas with them.
Yet many of the women who were part of this history remain largely absent from the stories we tell about European science.
Forgotten Pioneers: Remembering Europe’s Migrant Women Scientists is a new European project working to change this.
The project focuses on migrant women scientists whose contributions have been overlooked, misattributed or lost from archives, education and public memory. It addresses what the project describes as a “double erasure”: women whose scientific contributions were already less likely to receive recognition, and whose experiences of migration, exile or displacement created an additional layer of invisibility.
Recovering more complete stories of European science
Forgotten Pioneers starts from a simple principle: Europe’s scientific history should reflect the people who actually helped to shape it.
The partnership will bring overlooked histories back into view through archival research, oral history, storytelling, exhibitions, educational resources and opportunities for young people to engage directly with these stories.
Importantly, the project is not only concerned with correcting the historical record.
The absence of migrant women from scientific history also affects how we understand science today. When young people repeatedly encounter histories in which scientists are presented through a narrow range of backgrounds and experiences, it can influence ideas about who belongs in scientific spaces and whose knowledge is valued.
Forgotten Pioneers therefore connects remembrance with present-day questions of equality, representation and participation. The project will explore how historical exclusion relates to contemporary challenges such as the non-recognition of qualifications, deskilling, gender bias and limited representation of migrant women in STEM.
From archives to classrooms and communities
Throughout the project, partners will work with young people, educators, youth workers, migrant communities and cultural organisations.
Activities will include archival recovery and oral history work, storytelling and dialogue, educational resources, exhibitions and digital learning opportunities. Young people, particularly girls and young migrant women, will have opportunities to discover role models whose experiences may challenge traditional ideas about European scientific history.
Educators and youth workers will also receive practical resources to help them explore the connections between science, migration, gender and remembrance with the young people they support.
All project resources will be designed for wider reuse, helping schools, youth organisations and cultural institutions continue these conversations beyond the lifetime of the project.
Forgotten Pioneers is ultimately about making Europe’s shared history more complete. Recovering these stories recognises the women who contributed to European scientific development while creating new opportunities for younger generations to see diversity, migration and women’s expertise as an established part of Europe’s scientific past and future.