Désiré Collen is a scientist and a businessman, who worked in life sciences at universities and research institutions in Belgium, Sweden and the USA throughout his career. Having realized the crucial importance of education as a key to development, he has supported countless young people with grants and scholarships via the Désiré Collen Research Foundation, now Life Sciences Research Partners. More recently, he supported the constitution of the Désiré Collen Learning Center at the University of Leuven with access to basic and applied scientific works in the field of biomedical sciences and with ample study spaces available to students and founded the Foundation for Education to Improve Family Planning (FEFP) in the United Kingdom.
In Costa Rica, from the first hours, Désiré has been a support for our Foundation. In 2015 he proposed that «the time has come to do something more» and invited us to consider a larger project, with his selfless support. Thanks to this support, first through LSRP, now through FEFP, we can proudly say we have 150 scholars, 4 national congresses held and multiple ongoing projects – as you can see on this website.
For us, the support of Désiré Collen represents both an honour and a task. An honour because he believes in our work as a tool for the education and advancement of disadvantaged youth in Costa Rica. And a task, because it stimulates us to demonstrate that we effectively succeed in having impact on improving the future of young people through education. We are committed to show that his support is well invested and to achieve that someday all the young people of Costa Rica, thanks in part to him, will have access to secondary education.