معرفی
Mirona Moraru is a Researcher in the Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University. Her work critically examines language as a mechanism for maintaining, creating, resisting, and transforming power relations in educational contexts.
Her research centers on the intersection of multilingualism and migration, with specific focus on how language interacts with social class, race, and gender to produce educational inequality. Drawing from critical sociolinguistics, sociology, translation studies, and migration studies, she investigates translanguaging as boundary work within the Multi-STEM project (2021-2027). This NWO-funded initiative develops multilingual approaches to enhance STEM participation for children with migrant backgrounds across school, science museums, and home environments.
Moraru has extensive expertise in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and contributes to the Dynamics of Youth (DoY) research theme. Her work actively bridges theoretical frameworks with practical applications through a large consortium including Utrecht University, HU University of Applied Sciences, science museums (NEMO, Museon), and migrant integration organizations.
As an executor in the €3.2 million Multi-STEM project funded by NWO's NWA-ORC grant, she collaborates with 25+ institutional partners including Lund University, Malmö University, and Dutch educational bodies. Her research directly informs pedagogical strategies that leverage home languages to improve learning outcomes and foster belonging among multilingual youth.
She operates within Utrecht University's Dynamics of Youth strategic theme, working alongside researchers like Prof. Arthur Bakker and Prof. Elma Blom. Her current work emphasizes boundary-crossing practices between formal (classroom), non-formal (museums), and informal (home) learning spaces to create cohesive educational experiences for linguistically diverse children.
