For this CSD Educators blog it is my pleasure to welcome Marielle Agbahoungbata and to highlight the work she has done with her colleagues to help establish the X-TechLab in Benin. Marielle gained her PhD in inorganic chemistry and since 2014 has been involved in developing a network of crystallographers in Africa. Marielle is the coordinator of the X-TechLab in Benin which aims to provide hands-on training in X-ray techniques in order to provide African scientists with the means to develop solutions for the sustainable development of the continent. The first training session that X-TechLab team organised was held in May 2019 and I was lucky enough to join the second session in Benin in November 2019. That session saw a classroom full of participants from Benin and across Africa learn about X-ray diffraction. During the sessions on the Cambridge Structural Database the students were engaged and eager to learn and I felt privileged to be a part of it. A few months ago, the CCDC participated in our second X-TechLab training sessions, this time remotely. Again, it was fantastic to see how engaged the students were. In this blog Marielle will tell us more about the X-TechLab and how the team is striving to disseminate science and bridge scientific and entrepreneurship communities through the initiative.
