08 NOV: Meet the Female Science Talents @ Berlin Science Week 2025

Her Science, Her Story: Lived Experience Driving Human-Centred Research 

8 November, 5:30-7PM CET
Venue: Falling Walls Foundation (Kochstraße 6-7, 10969 Berlin)

This panel discussion explores how personal narratives and lived realities, from migration and mental health to climate activism and environmental stewardship, can drive innovative, human-centred research. The session will open with a 10-minute video created by the 20 Female Science Talents (FST) of 2025, titled Ocean 20 - FSTs Falling Walls 2025. In this collective video, each participant shares how her personal story shapes the science she conducts. These reflections set the stage for a broader conversation on identity, community, and co-created research. 

Following the video, a live moderated panel will feature researchers whose own journeys reflect the power of community-driven science. They will share insights and highlight the importance of including community members, consumers, and advocates—individuals whose real-world challenges help co-shape meaningful research. This inclusive conversation will explore how science become more impactful, relevant, and equitable when it’s shaped in collaboration with the communities it seeks to serve.

From health equity and neurodiversity to climate justice, creative intervention, and educational inclusion, this 90-minute session celebrates the power of authenticity, collaboration, and positionality in driving socially and ecologically relevant research. Together, panellists will discuss how integrating lived experience, both personal and communal, can lead to more inclusive questions, participatory methods, and lasting impact. 

What to Expect and Goals

• First-hand insights into how personal and community experiences shape research priorities, design, and outcomes
• Strategies for integrating reflexivity, equity, and community engagement into scientific practice
• Inspiration for early-career researchers to embrace their identities as strengths
• Emphasis on interdisciplinary, cross-sector, and community-informed approaches to science
• Creative and participatory interventions
• A redefinition of “expertise” that values both scientific and lived experience in co-creating impactful research 

Whether you are an early-career scientist, a policy advocate, or a community partner, this session offers a grounded, hopeful vision of science that listens, adapts, and transforms 

*Link to Berlin Science Week programme will follow.