15 years of Forscherwelt: Henkel inspires children for science

This year, Henkel’s educational initiative “Forscherwelt ‏(Researchers’ World)” celebrates its 15th anniversary. Under the motto “being like a researcher", the initiative was founded in 2011 at the Düsseldorf site and has since grown into a global educational program with activities in more than 20 countries.

“Forscherwelt was created out of our conviction to strengthen children’s basic scientific education and to foster their natural curiosity,” says Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, patroness of the initiative and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and Shareholders’ Committee of Henkel. “There is so much to uncover in this world. With our Forscherwelt initiative, we want to inspire children with the joy of exploration and encourage them to ask questions and think freely.”

“Education is the most important investment in the future of our society. The success of Forscherwelt over the past 15 years shows that when we combine our know-how and innovative strength with social commitment, we can make a real difference for future generations. We strengthen key skills, open up new perspectives and thus make a lasting contribution to our communities,” says Carsten Knobel, CEO of Henkel.

Forscherwelt initiative continues to grow

Starting with holiday courses for children of Henkel employees and partnerships with primary schools, the initiative has continuously expanded – through additional course formats, new experiments, and digital learning formats. 

More than 130,000 children worldwide have taken part in Forscherwelt activities since its inception, across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, as well as North and South America. They explore various subject areas closely linked to Henkel’s research: adhesives, laundry, personal care, and sustainability. The children learn to understand scientific correlations and to work scientifically.

In addition to offerings for children, Forscherwelt also provides training sessions for teachers, parent-child courses, and workshops for interested employees. Teaching materials for independent experimentation are also provided free of charge to educators on the initiative’s website.

New course format and anniversary activities

To mark the anniversary of Forscherwelt, which also coincides with Henkel’s 150th anniversary year, various activities are taking place around the world. As part of family days and anniversary events, children and their parents have the opportunity to experiment together and discover the joy of science. A special highlight is the introduction of a new module focused on testing methods, which is being launched as a pilot project in Düsseldorf. In this module, children work with procedures that are also used in practice at Henkel, for example to examine foam formation or the strength of adhesive tapes. 

“It is important to us that children gain an authentic insight into research work. This includes working with professional laboratory equipment under guidance, such as beakers, laboratory scales, and measuring cylinders,” says Dr. Ute Krupp, Global Head of Forscherwelt. “It is always impressive to see how quickly they internalize fundamental research processes. The excitement is huge every time they discover something new.”

Further information about Forscherwelt can be found here.