News from the ECG, 2019 Chair's report
Tom Sizmur
University of Reading
t.sizmur@reading.ac.uk
University of Reading
t.sizmur@reading.ac.uk
News from the ECG
2019 has been an action-packed year for the Environmental Chemistry Group, with 13 scientific activities organised or supported. However, there is plenty more in the pipeline for 2020.
All change
In December 2018 we welcomed to the committee Laura Alcock, a development chemist at Edwards Ltd, and Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay, a lecturer in environmental engineering at the University of Glasgow, broadening the industry experience and geographical spread of the committee north of the border. We also said goodbye to our outgoing Vice Chair (and previous Chair) Zoë Fleming, who has emigrated to Chile, and has sent us a video message from sunny Santiago that left us suitably envious. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her outstanding contribution to the committee since joining in 2012, and to wish her all the best for her future endeavours. The position of Vice Chair has now passed to Rowena Fletcher-Wood.
Meetings, Symposia, and Lectures
The first meeting of 2019 saw the return of our biennial meeting on the ‘Analysis of Complex Environmental Matrices’ on 22nd February, organised by Roger Reeve with the Separation Science Group and the Water Science Forum. The keynote lecture was given by Dr Emma Schymanski from the University of Luxemburg on the use of environmental informatics to identify unknown chemicals and their effects. The next event is scheduled for 2021. Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay will be shadowing its organisation and has agreed to take over fully for the following meeting in 2023. Our annual ‘Distinguished Guest Lecture’ was delivered by Professor Melissa Denecke from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which followed an exciting symposia of presentations from Joanna Renshaw, Mike Wood and Juliet Long on the topic of ‘21st Century chemistry: Disposing of our nuclear legacy’ in the RSC, Burlington House on 27th March. Laura Alcock and Domink Weiss are organising our next Distinguished Guest Lecture and symposium, focusing on the chemistry behind disposables in our society. Throughout the year, we have organised several other successful scientific meetings, including a meeting by Laura Newsome with the Clay Minerals Group of the Mineralogical Society on ‘Clay minerals in the natural and built environment: formation, chemistry and applications’ at Newcastle University in May. Clare Topping organised a meeting on ‘Plastics from Cradle to Grave and Resurrection’ at the SCI building in London in June in collaboration with the RSC’s Toxicology and Food groups. A follow-up meeting will be run at the same location on 9th June 2020 (page 28). Valerio Ferracci organised two events in 2019, the first being an event on Sensors and Networks for Environmental Monitoring in collaboration with the RSC Automation and Analytical Management Group (with the next meeting already scheduled for 23rd June 2020, page 30), and the second event on Indoor Air Quality in September, alongside the RSC Toxicology Group and the Environmental Physics Group of the Institute of Physics. The ECG supported Bill Bloss to host the European Workshop on Air Quality and Atmospheric Chemistry in Birmingham in September, and Glynn Skerratt organised a successful meeting on Sustainable Water in the 21st Century in October in his capacity as the ECG representative on the RSC Energy, Sustainability and Environment Division Committee. 2019 saw us embark on a new venture as Steve Leharne hosted the first of what we intend to be an annual scientific meeting to bring together scientists from the UK and Ireland working across the entire spectrum of environmental chemistry at #EnvChem2019:Chemistry of the Whole Environment Research Meeting on 15th October in London. Keynote presentations were given by Mike Rivett and David Owen. We have started organising the next event (#EnvChem2020) to take place in York and have coopted Tomás Sherwen from the University of York on to the ECG committee to help organise a two-day event in July 2020 to which we invite you to come and share your science (page 30).
Public engagement with science
The ECG has been active on social media in 2019, thanks to the efforts of Laura Newsome and Rowena Fletcher-Wood. Rowena also ran two public engagement events in Oxford on ‘Blue Sky Research’ during Green Week and at the IF Oxford Festival of Ideas. The ECG sponsored two prizes for the best poster in the Environmental Chemistry category of the RSC Twitter Conference, and Glynn Skerratt provided ECG support for an exhibition at Nantwich Museum to celebrate the life of Joseph Priestley and the International Year of the Periodic Table.
2019 has been an action-packed year for the Environmental Chemistry Group, with 13 scientific activities organised or supported. However, there is plenty more in the pipeline for 2020.
All change
In December 2018 we welcomed to the committee Laura Alcock, a development chemist at Edwards Ltd, and Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay, a lecturer in environmental engineering at the University of Glasgow, broadening the industry experience and geographical spread of the committee north of the border. We also said goodbye to our outgoing Vice Chair (and previous Chair) Zoë Fleming, who has emigrated to Chile, and has sent us a video message from sunny Santiago that left us suitably envious. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her outstanding contribution to the committee since joining in 2012, and to wish her all the best for her future endeavours. The position of Vice Chair has now passed to Rowena Fletcher-Wood.
Meetings, Symposia, and Lectures
The first meeting of 2019 saw the return of our biennial meeting on the ‘Analysis of Complex Environmental Matrices’ on 22nd February, organised by Roger Reeve with the Separation Science Group and the Water Science Forum. The keynote lecture was given by Dr Emma Schymanski from the University of Luxemburg on the use of environmental informatics to identify unknown chemicals and their effects. The next event is scheduled for 2021. Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay will be shadowing its organisation and has agreed to take over fully for the following meeting in 2023. Our annual ‘Distinguished Guest Lecture’ was delivered by Professor Melissa Denecke from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which followed an exciting symposia of presentations from Joanna Renshaw, Mike Wood and Juliet Long on the topic of ‘21st Century chemistry: Disposing of our nuclear legacy’ in the RSC, Burlington House on 27th March. Laura Alcock and Domink Weiss are organising our next Distinguished Guest Lecture and symposium, focusing on the chemistry behind disposables in our society. Throughout the year, we have organised several other successful scientific meetings, including a meeting by Laura Newsome with the Clay Minerals Group of the Mineralogical Society on ‘Clay minerals in the natural and built environment: formation, chemistry and applications’ at Newcastle University in May. Clare Topping organised a meeting on ‘Plastics from Cradle to Grave and Resurrection’ at the SCI building in London in June in collaboration with the RSC’s Toxicology and Food groups. A follow-up meeting will be run at the same location on 9th June 2020 (page 28). Valerio Ferracci organised two events in 2019, the first being an event on Sensors and Networks for Environmental Monitoring in collaboration with the RSC Automation and Analytical Management Group (with the next meeting already scheduled for 23rd June 2020, page 30), and the second event on Indoor Air Quality in September, alongside the RSC Toxicology Group and the Environmental Physics Group of the Institute of Physics. The ECG supported Bill Bloss to host the European Workshop on Air Quality and Atmospheric Chemistry in Birmingham in September, and Glynn Skerratt organised a successful meeting on Sustainable Water in the 21st Century in October in his capacity as the ECG representative on the RSC Energy, Sustainability and Environment Division Committee. 2019 saw us embark on a new venture as Steve Leharne hosted the first of what we intend to be an annual scientific meeting to bring together scientists from the UK and Ireland working across the entire spectrum of environmental chemistry at #EnvChem2019:Chemistry of the Whole Environment Research Meeting on 15th October in London. Keynote presentations were given by Mike Rivett and David Owen. We have started organising the next event (#EnvChem2020) to take place in York and have coopted Tomás Sherwen from the University of York on to the ECG committee to help organise a two-day event in July 2020 to which we invite you to come and share your science (page 30).
Public engagement with science
The ECG has been active on social media in 2019, thanks to the efforts of Laura Newsome and Rowena Fletcher-Wood. Rowena also ran two public engagement events in Oxford on ‘Blue Sky Research’ during Green Week and at the IF Oxford Festival of Ideas. The ECG sponsored two prizes for the best poster in the Environmental Chemistry category of the RSC Twitter Conference, and Glynn Skerratt provided ECG support for an exhibition at Nantwich Museum to celebrate the life of Joseph Priestley and the International Year of the Periodic Table.
