New Engagement Grants to Inspire the Next Generation of Scientists

New Engagement Grants to Inspire the Next Generation of Scientists

New initiative to create resources and increase engagement in crystallography and structural science.

• New grants to create crystallography and structural science outreach resources and activities.
• Grants cover costs to produce resources or activities that will increase schools and public engagement in crystallography and structural science.

Cambridge, UK - 31 August, 2022 – The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) today announced new Engagement Grants in their latest initiative to advance structural science for the public benefit.

Structural science and crystallography play vital roles in the world around us, but few outside the field get to hear about it. This area of science deals with the study of materials in their solid state, including their interactions, stability, and properties. Scientists in this field discover and develop new semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, batteries, catalysts and more. Choosing this field offers great opportunities to have a meaningful impact on scientific development and our everyday lives.

CCDC are a UK-based charity, who maintain and curate the world’s database of over one million experimental small molecule crystal structures that have been shared by scientists globally. Alongside this database they provide software for researchers working in this field, so they can search, visualize, analyse and learn from this incredible resource. Their charitable objectives include advancing education in the chemical sciences, and it is hoped these grants will empower scientists around the world to inspire the next generation.

To help crystallographers and structural scientists to inspire others, the grants cover costs to produce resources or activities that will increase schools and public engagement in crystallography and structural science.

The grants could be used to produce videos, social media series, games, posters, or activities to engage or inspire those not currently involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This includes children, those undecided about what to study, or the general public. The only restriction is that the outputs must be about crystal structures, crystallography, or structural science, and applicants must be over 18.

“We are excited to launch these new grants and are looking forward to being energized and inspired by the applications. We know these grants will help others to share our love of structural science to a wider audience, and will support our global community to be part of our mission to grow engagement in crystallography and inspire the next generation of structural scientists,” says Suzanna Ward, Head of Database and Community, CCDC.

More information, including how to apply, can be found at the CCDC Engagement Grants page.

Press Contact

Sophie Bryant, Marketing Manager, sbryant@ccdc.cam.ac.uk.