The 2023 EuChemS Yearbook was released in February. It contains all the activities of EuChemS over the course of the last year.

EuChemS was involved in numerous scientific and science-policy related undertakings in 2023. The yearbook provides descriptions of policy related advisory groups and events of EuChemS – including, but not limited to stakeholder group participations and policy workshops -, as well as its efforts to strengthen the European chemistry community. It also lists EuChemS Science Communication initiatives and data, as well as information on the constitution of the 2023 Executive board, Divisions, Member Societies and secretariat.

The production of the yearbook was coordinated by the EuChemS Secretariat, but many more members of EuChemS contributed to ensuring the high quality and accuracy of the publication.

We are delighted to invite you to read our 2023 yearbook, and we would be happy to hear about any feedback you may have!

Read the 2023 EuChemS Yeabook

 

Céline Wittwer, SCS | Marton Kottmayer, EuChemS
28.02.2024

EuChemS News, Policy News, Events, Awards
 
Find our monthly compilation of chemistry- and science-related European policy developments in this newsletter! You will also find EuChemS' activities and news here. Take a look at our Headline Stories or Read EuChemS Magazine online!

EuChemS News

Policy News

Read the full magazine on: https://www.magazine.euchems.eu/

 

David Spichiger, SCS
15.02.2024

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has released its call for proposals to identify the top ten emerging technologies in chemistry with the results to be announced in 2024.

This initiative began in 2018 in recognition of IUPAC’s Centenary in 2019, and while it was created to kick-off IUPAC’s anniversary year in a very visible way, the end goal was to showcase the value of Chemistry (and chemists!) and to inform the general public as to how the chemical sciences contribute to the well-being of Society and the sustainability of Planet Earth. A feature article presenting details on each of the selected 2023 technologies was published in the October 2023 issue of IUPAC magazine Chemistry International as well as in the De Gruyter Conversations, Science & Technology blog post (posted 18 Dec 2023).

The call for the 2024 proposals is now open. Anyone can submit one or more proposals – this call for proposals is open to the global science community as well as to the general public.

LINK to nomination form

Call for nomination – deadline 31 March 2024

What is an “Emerging Technology?”

An “Emerging Technology” is one that is between a new scientific discovery and a fully-commercialized technology. It should involve a solid understanding of the technology, some type of prototype, or even better some start-ups working to commercialize the technology. But most importantly, the technology needs to be exciting, have the capacity to open up new opportunities in chemistry and beyond, and most importantly, help to solve major global problems – the focus of IUPAC’s vision and mission. The term “chemistry” is used in its broadest sense, including material science, nanotechnology, and biochemistry. Bottom line, an emerging technology is a discovery that hovers between an embryonic “Eureka” moment in the lab and an industrial application.

This initiative is to help to raise chemistry’s profile and reinforce its essential role in the advancement of science and technology.

For more information, contact Fabienne Meyers, IUPAC Associate Director and Editor, Chemistry International ()

<iupac.org/what-we-do/top-ten/>

David Spichiger, SCS
12.02.2024

The Platform Chemistry of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) and the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) announce the 2024 Chemistry Travel Award. 

The award includes a contribution of CHF 1'000 towards the cost of an active participation (poster or oral presentation) at an international conference between 15 May 2024 and 14 May 2025 in any field of the chemical sciences. 

Up to 45 doctoral students from Swiss research institutions will be awarded. Selection will be based primarily on scientific accomplishments and on the submitted conference abstract. 

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2024

All the information about the conditions of participation and the application forms are under chem.scnat.ch/travel_award

 

David Spichiger, SCS / Leo Merz, SCNAT
06.02.2024

 

Dear members of the SCS,

With pleasure we look back on a very interesting and active year. The Swiss Chemical Society not only continued and developed its well-established activities but again pushed new initiatives to face today’s challenges. We also implemented new programs to incorporate community members whose interest were not covered so far. We successfully organized more than twenty on-site symposia and congresses respectively and were able to generate an important contribution to the exchange between academia and industry.

Unfortunately, the growing global instability that last year brought us has not improved, quite on the contrary. It is not the specific mandate of the SCS to solve political problems, but we can still all find a common ground over religious, political or historical disagreements through Science and Chemistry. While a better understanding of the transformation of matter will probably not solve most of the current problems the world is facing, it will certainly help bringing people together and form strong and beneficial communities. And this is precisely the main goal of the SCS. I encourage all of you to read (again) on the Society website its vision and mission statements, which have been reformulated a few months ago.

Another major event that last year brough was the public-wide availability of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT. Its use for trivial and time-consuming tasks is certainly a great help. But for us scientists, there is also a great danger. We should all keep in mind that the algorithms feed themselves on published data. Data that has been so far generated by humans, with a (hopefully) critical evaluation of their validity. If AI tools are now blindly used to produce data and publications, which is a growing trend, we will gradually create a recursive picture of reality that will drift away from reality. Science is the observation and understanding of the world as it is, and reporting on it cannot allow lax treatment of facts and ambiguous formulations.

In addition to the well-established activities that are part of the SCS portfolio for years and are mentioned later in this annual report, we focused on the following, new or specific initiatives in 2023:

  • revise the SCS vision and mission statement to
  • establish the SCS Mentoring Program to support the personal and professional development of students and postdocs with focus on career development.
  • provide event organization services for third parties.
  • further develop the IT infrastructure.
  • extend the SCS Partnership program to 24 companies.
  • prepare the merger of the Division of Polymers, Colloids & Interfaces with the MatChem Network to form the Division of Materials Chemistry as of January 2024.

The Swiss Chemical Society is a not-for-profit organization. Its programs are financed through sponsoring contributions, publishing, revenues from activities, and the membership-fees. We would like to thank all our members, sponsors and partners who supported us financially and logistically in 2023.

SCS Annual Report 2023

Please enjoy reading through the 2023 annual report that shows again a very active and lively society.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you very soon and I wish you a very successful 2024.

Prof. Christian Bochet                  David Spichiger,  
President                                        Executive Director

 

David Spichiger, SCS
02.02.2024

  1. Prof. Angela Agostiano begins EuChemS Presidency
  2. EuChemS Magazine, January 2024
  3. ECC9 in Dublin: Call for Abstract extended to January 15, 2024
  4. Dr. Gordon Honeyman started as the new Technical Editor of CHIMIA

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