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Africa now has a crystallography professional society!
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Africa now has a crystallography professional society!
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Why is this important?
First, crystallography is a critical science in economic development and the relief from health burdens. |
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Deschamps, Thayyil, and many others, including researchers heard at this very conference, have written about the role of crystallography in understanding the nature of a drug targets and elucidation of drug candidates, including moving candidates from lab conditions to dosage forms that can be taken to market. With almost every African government now focused on vaccine development, it is important to note the importance of crystallography in vaccinology and biotechnology.
Crystallography is also critical for understanding the nature of other types of specialty materials, e.g., ferroelectrics, photovoltaics, catalysts, petrology and mineralogy samples, and countless others.
Second, professional societies generally set the parameters in which people practice the profession. In some cases professional societies control certification and accreditation processes, thus who has the right to practice in the profession. Professional societies generally are the stewards of communication channels and archives of the profession. Thus they are the mechanisms where people gain recognition in the profession. They set the standards for ethical professional practice. They are advocates for the profession in government and with various other venues. Professional societies are generally the mechanisms by which change is instituted in the profession. They provide forums for marketing, intellectual pollination, and career networking. They provide personal and professional services.
Now all of these positive and necessary benefits will come to Africa via the African Crystallographic Association. Again, the objectives of AfCA are to contribute to the advancement of crystallography and structural science in all its aspects, to promote African cooperation in crystallography and related areas, and to contribute to the development of education and research in crystallography and structural sciences in Africa.
We hope to see AfCA become a strong voice for the advancement of science in Africa. |
Due to technical difficulties yesterday's ePCCr/AfCA's plenary talk is rescheduled for today at 13h00 GMT+2.
Professor Seham K. Abdel-Aal will be speaking on Fascinating structure and physical properties of lead-free hybrid perovskites for multifunctional applications.
Dr. Seham K. Abdel-Aal is a lecturer at the Physics Department of the Faculty of Science in Cairo University, Egypt. |
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She is also a Senior Researcher (Principal Investigator) at the Egypt Nanotechnology Center. She obtained her PhD from Cairo University on the synthesis, structure and properties of lead-free organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites.
Her postdoc (Graphene nanocomposites synthesis and characterization) was at
the Center of Nanotechnology located at the Zakir Hussain College of
Engineering and Applied Science in Aligarh Muslim University, India. She is the Principal Investigator of jointly funded bilateral research projects with the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia; Wigner Research Center of Physics, Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest, Hungary, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China and the Central Laboratory of Solar Energy and New Energy Sources, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Bulgaria.
Recently, she received 200,000 EGP (€10000) from the Science and Technology Development Fund of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education for green synthesis of graphene nanocomposites for energy applications.
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Also on tap today is a plenary talk by Professor Francesco Petruccione of University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. There he is a Research Chair for Quantum Information Processing and Communication, and the founding director of the Centre for Quantum Technology. |
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His research works centers on mathematical description and computational analysis of open quantum systems, including quantum engines, quantum materials and their coherence. He is a recognized expert in harnessing quantum technology for sustaining development.
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Today's full conference program is at this link. |
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