A glimpse into materials research for refugees

by Felicitas Brüntgens

Ahmed Radwan, an intern at the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, is enthusiastic: He discovers the institute’s laboratories at Campus Melaten in Aachen. He cannot decide what he likes the most: the rotary evaporator or the cells under the microscope? “I have not seen living cells in a laboratory before,” he says. So far, Radwan had only seen typical chemistry laboratories. He is the second intern at the DWI who fled from his home country to Germany. Last year Bereket Hadish from Eritrea had the opportunity to gain scientific experience at the DWI. Radwan comes from Somalia, where he has worked as a teacher for physics and chemistry after his studies at the university. Now he is spending six weeks getting to know the different departments of the materials research institute and experiences the everyday life in a laboratory.

Hadish, who did a two-months internship at the DWI last summer, is now living in Würzburg. There he is began his apprenticeship to become a chemical laboratory assistant at a medical care center. He likes the city as well as the education very much. To get his current position, Hadish applied for apprenticeships and he was highly motivated to get such a position in Würzburg, especially once he knew that his brother, who also fled from Eritrea, lives there. A letter of recommendation from the DWI helped him a lot during the application process. “It would be great if more companies and research facilities would offer internships for refugees,” Hadish explains. This would make it much easier to be considered for an apprenticeship or a job. Furthermore, the internship was important for him to find out whether he likes working in a laboratory. In spite of his background as a teacher in physics and chemistry in Eritrea, he had never experienced hands-on chemistry like in the DWI laboratories.

Refugees with a complete education and a university degree often have to start anew when they arrive in Germany: Their degree is usually not recognized here. An internship may function as an entry point into the German professional life. Therefore, the DWI started to offer such opportunities for refugees. The administrative director of the institute, Thanh Nguyen, and Claudia Formen, responsible for trainees at DWI, initiated the project. Claudia Formen contacted the employment agency in Aachen, which now connects refugees with the DWI and supports them during the application progress. Last year, the first internship for refugees was announced. Shortly after, the application of Bereket Hadish came in and showed that he was a suitable candidate. Ahmed Radwan is the second intern. In May, the next intern will already start. It is a woman from Syria. 

Radwan hopes he can continue with an apprenticeship at the DWI or the RWTH Aachen. His chances are not bad. “Although his studies in Somalia were theory-orientated, Radwan knows the laboratory routines very well,” says Claudia Formen. “He was already able to do an elementary method to measure the concentration of a solution when he started his internship.” After almost two years in Germany and two language courses, Radwan’s German language skills are already sufficient for getting along in the laboratory. He soon wants to start the next course to reach the language level B1. The basic requirements are met. And even more important: the chemistry is right.