**Sabine Severiens is full professor of Educational Sciences at the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences of Erasmus University Rotterdam.** The main theme in her scientific work is diversity and educational inequality, from the perspective of the teacher (culturally responsive teaching) as well as the student (motivation, integration and the learning environment). One of the focal points in her current work is teaching in classrooms with students from diverse backgrounds and strengthening professional capacity in this particular area. She has been a supervisor for PhD candidates in a variety settings for nearly ten years. She was director in the EU funded project called NAOS on professional capacity in urban education (http://www.sirius-migrationeducation.org/news/naos/). Furthermore, she heads the Knowledge Network on Rotterdam Talent, a collaborative platform for the Rotterdam knowledge institutes, municipality and educational practice organizations (school boards and school support organizations).