Outreach in the Community
CCDC Engagement Grants
Here are resources and ideas from engagement projects created by members of the community with the support of the CCDC Engagement Grants.
The resources are various in format and audience, thanks to the creativity of the teams that produced them. The material shared is available for use in classroom activities and in science festivals, providing acknowledgments to the authors.
Launched in 2022, the CCDC Engagement Grants contribute to our mission to advance structural science for the public benefit by supporting our community to inspire the next generation of scientists and the public by creating engaging resources.
If you have an idea or a project that might benefit from this, then find out all the details on this CCDC Engagement Grant webpage.
2024 Winners - Projects Completed by September 2025
- Aida Mohammedeid – Brilliant Minds: Discovering Crystallography with Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
- Dušan Malenov and team – Empowering Chemistry Students to Discover Noncovalent Interactions via the Cambridge Structural Database – CSD4NCI Workshop
- Enis Nadia Md Yusof and team – Crystal Quest: Unlocking the Wonders of the Invisible World
- Krishna Hari and team – Crystal Explorers: Engage, Discover and Create
- Olufunso Abosede and team – Crystallize Your Future: A High School Workshop in Structural Science
- Paloma Martínez-Martín and team – Art within your crystals
Resources from completed projects
GUESSymmetry: guess the symmetry of molecules!
Authors: Zoran Štefanić, Ruđer Bošković Institute (Croatia)
Project: Website and web application with three games to learn and explore the concepts of symmetry, crystals and molecular packings. Users will need to log in and they will be able to access scoreboards and track their results.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: English.
Target audience: Activities for students learning about symmetry (in particular, but not limited to high school, undergraduate and master students), and curious people.
Online resources: GUESSymmetry online activities.
European Crystallography Video Contest
Authors: Josefina Perles (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and team, including Chiara Massera (Università di Parma, Italy), Annalisa Guerri (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy) and Kamil Filip Dziubek (European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy LENS), as part of GIG-03 (Education in Crystallography General Interest Group) from the European Crystallographic Association (ECA).
Project: Video contest to engage European primary and secondary schoolchildren in crystal growing experiments.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: Various languages allowed, all with English subtitles.
Target audience: Videos created by students of age 11+, and suitable for students of similar age and curious people.
Online resources: Collection of videos from the winners.
Additional notes: This project was additionally sponsored by the ECA.
Crystal Buddies: Exploring the Magic of Crystals
Authors: Siti Syaida Sirat and team including Ku Nurul Atiqah Ku Ahamad, Nur Nadia Dzulkifli, and Dzeelfa Zainal Abidin (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia).
Project: Digital comic book with short stories describing principles of crystallography. The comic book was also presented at a local science festival together with other activities from the team.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: English, Malay.
Target audience: Primary and secondary schools students and curious people.
Downloadable and online resources: Digital comic in PDF and flip book.
Lego of my Medicine
Authors: Alexander Derry and team including Emily Caseley (University of Leeds, UK).
Project: Classroom activities using Lego to simulate the drug discovery process.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: English.
Target audience: Students aged 16+ and curious people.
Downloadable and online resources: Resources and instructions to set up and run the activity.
- Where to start: Lego of my medicine activity guidance
- Lego of my Medicine power point
- Activity Scoring excel sheet
- Printable Lego money (20 and 200 value notes, and only 20 value notes)
- Additional documents for making your own changes to the activity (blank note, 3D print files)
MOF assembly – a public engagement activity about how new materials self-assemble and crystallise from their constituent molecules
Authors: Hamish Yeung and team at the University of Birmingham, including Tim Easun, Zoe Schnepp, Chris Hamlett, Suzie Hughes, Sophie Ray, Pat Doheny.
Project: Outreach activities presented at the CoCoMAD community festival and online activity instructions.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: English.
Target audience: Age 3+ (check each activity) and curious people.
Online resources: Activity instructions and explanations.
The Importance of Applications of Crystallography in African Society
Authors: Eric Ziki (Université Félix Houphouet-Boigny) and team, including Ludovic Akonan (Université Nanguy Abrogoua Abidjan), René Konan Kambo (Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé Daloa), Abou Akoun (Institut National Polytechnique Houphouet-Boigny Yamoussoukro), Aka Joseph N’Gouan (Université Félix Houphouet-Boigny Abidjan), Bi Séverin Dri Goulizan (Université Félix Houphouet-Boigny Abidjan).
Project: Series of in-person conferences and seminars to introduce undergraduate, master and PhD students at universities in Côte d’Ivoire to crystallography.
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: French and English.
Target audience: Undergraduate, master and PhD students.
Resources: Where appropriate, some of the material will be made available.
Augmented Reality Crystallography
Authors: Lawson Glasby and team, including Rama Oktavian (University of Sheffield, UK) and Peyman Z Moghadam (University College London, UK).
Project: Resources to create augmented reality representations of structures from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD).
Year of the award: 2023-2024
Language: English.
Target audience: Students and curious people.
Resources: The resources are coming soon!
There's (Crystallo)chemistry Between Us!
Authors: Giuditta Cicconi and team including Alessia Bacchi and Paolo Pio Mazzeo, University of Parma (Italy)
Project: Booklet of activities and fun games, including crosswords and drawing activities, to introduce children to chemistry and crystallochemistry. Educators might also find these activities interesting for their classroom.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: English, Italian, German, French.
Target audience: Activities for age groups 8+, 12+, and curious people.
Downloadable resources: Booklet in PDF.
Recounting an Ancient Story of Crystallization: Saffron Rock Candy
Authors: Mohammad Salehian and team, including Mohammed Al Qaraghuli, Scott Hone, Catriona Clark, Daniel Markl, and Alastair Florence, University of Strathclyde (UK)
Project: Self-learning experimental kits to learn hands-on about crystallisation by creating rock candy. The kits are delivered to participating schools within the Greater Glasgow area and nationwide in the UK.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: English.
Target audience: Primary and secondary school students.
Downloadable resources: Activity poster.
CNCC: 10 años difundiendo la Cristalografía a todos los rincones del país
Authors: Natalia Alvarez and team including Leopoldo Suescun, Ivana Aguiar, Ivana Núñez, Maia Mombrú, Isabel Galain, Santiago Valiero, Carlos Yañez, Carlos Rojas, and more, Universidad de la República (Uruguay)
Project: This project will expand the long-running National Crystal Growing Competition in Uruguay to reach students in rural areas and in reclusion centres.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: Spanish.
Target audience: Elementary and secondary school students.
Downloadable resources: Instructions in word and presentations in powerpoint.
- Workshop outline in English, Spanish, and Portuguese here.
- Slides for Crystal Growing Workshop 10-14 years old in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- Slides for Crystal Growing Workshop 14-18 years old in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
cREELStallography
Authors: Leonardo Feletto and Luana Scampuddu (Italy)
Project: Collection of short videos (reels) for social media. The six videos will cover a variety of crystallographic topics including stories of scientists behind important discoveries in the field, with particular focus on protein crystallography.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: English, Italian.
Target audience: young learners 14+ and curious people.
Online resources: videos available on social media (Instagram, TikTok) and YouTube.
- Episode 1:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Episode 2:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Episode 3:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Episode 4:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Episode 5:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on TikTok.
- Episode 6:
- Watch in English on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
- Watch in Italian on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube.
That's the Point (Group)!
Authors: Ewa Patyk-Kaźmierczak and Michał Kaźmierczak, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland).
Project: Roll-and-write board game to learn about stereographic projections of space groups and symmetry elements.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: English.
Target audience: High school and undergraduate students.
Downloadable resources: Print-and-play board game and resource with scientific background.
The Candle Light Project
Authors: Samuel Tetteh, University of Cape Coast (Ghana)
Project: In-person activities to teach students the basics of crystallography, providing a link between the microscopic and macroscopic materials. High school tutors have also received training in crystallographic concepts to support their teaching activities.
Year of the award: 2022-2023
Language: English.
Target audience: High school and undergraduate students (aged 16 – 22).
Resources: Where appropriate, some of the material will be made available.
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