Chemists Without Borders
(Congo Brazzaville, India, Ivory Coast, Morocco)

Chemists Without Borders (Congo Brazzaville, India, Ivory Coast, Morocco)

The French association "Chimistes sans frontières" (ChSF), founded in February 2018, leads and participates in international solidarity actions that require chemistry skills. The experienced members of ChSF bring their skills, networks and willingness to engage with and support disadvantaged populations or developing countries.

In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation provided a grant to support a virtual reality chemistry project for pupils in underdeveloped areas.

The initiative aims to promote the dissemination of chemistry knowledge among young people in disadvantaged areas through virtual reality education. The project will develop a prototype that shows two chemistry experiments using active pedagogy (Inquiry-Based Learning).

The prototype's specifications have been established by students of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Supérieure de Chemistry of Montpellier (FR), with academics from African countries and volunteer experts from ChSF. This educational tool will be used in schools in Sub-Saharan Africa and India.

The prototype tool has been created and is currently under evaluation. It has also been proposed to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of National Education of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the local UNESCO office and the French Embassy for use and further validation.

Chemist without Border’s vision is to use this project in a global movement to improve the realisation of practical work in education.

This project contributes to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: