Mobile first becomes mobile only! Most refugees have lost everything during their month-long journey. But there is one thing every refugee cherishes like life itself (or “the most”): His smartphone, a major tool to communicate, to keep track with family and friends at home and to help them navigate through the continent.

That’s why we created a platform to cross borders – without actually crossing them, using the one remaining tool every refugee has.

Hereby, we bring European and refugee researchers together in a digital way by combining all steps in organizing research on a simple device – independent of their whereabouts or asylum status.

Developed in 2016, Research Buddies was the result of a sudden increase of studied people seeking shelter in Europe, needing a simple way to interact with researchers on domestic markets.

So, we developed a platform as diverse as its target audience: No matter which operating system the scientists use – being a browser based platform, Research Buddies runs on any common device.

After registration, European and refugee scientists can provide information about their research history, their area of expertise or their practical experiences. A list of publications substantiates their information. When finding a possible research partner, the platform then automatically matches scientist based on their information provided.

With their device, the scientists can now have subject-specific talks and video chat or share documents, using Research Buddies as a hub for any tasks or meetings. Short: Make science together – even if they are thousands of miles apart.

Research Buddies met its core propose – connecting European and refugee scientists in an easy way – within weeks, reaching thousands of researchers and encouraging them to take part in the project.

In Numbers: Science4Refugees Research Buddies became a doorway to more than 17.000 open positions in science, more than 10.500 universities and institutions, as well as more than 25.000 scientists all over Europe.

Further, our idea gained widespread attention in blogs and media, leading to an increased interest of the public in the matters of refugee scientists.