News from the ECG, 2023 Chair's report
Whilst our event numbers and attendances continue to fluctuate year-on-year, in 2023, we saw a return to pre-pandemic event
numbers and attendances, due to our two flagship events, #EnvChem2023: Chemistry of the Whole Environment and the Distinguished Guest Lecture, and to a number of outreach activities, which always draw large audiences. We have also been working on the Group’s website and Bulletin referencing style to make them consistent with RSC branding, and their accessibility.
numbers and attendances, due to our two flagship events, #EnvChem2023: Chemistry of the Whole Environment and the Distinguished Guest Lecture, and to a number of outreach activities, which always draw large audiences. We have also been working on the Group’s website and Bulletin referencing style to make them consistent with RSC branding, and their accessibility.
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We have had fewer committee changes in the last year, with no new recruits, and just two goodbyes: to Dr Irene O’Callaghan (University College Cork), who contributed to Bulletin editing, and David Owen, Briefs co-ordinator and Environment, Sustainability and Energy Community (ESEC) representative (pictured). David retired from the committee in September after a motor neuron disease diagnosis, and sadly died in November 2023. As a friend as well as a fellow volunteer, he will be greatly missed. Always engaged with environmental chemistry to the last, one of David’s articles appears in this Bulletin edition. You can also read about his career in his ECG Interview
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In March 2024, we will be seeing some further committee changes, as Dr Valerio Ferracci retires as treasurer, and I step down as Chair. However, I continue to represent the ECG both on the committee and as an elected member of the RSC Members Community Board, who oversee RSC Interest Groups and RSC local sections.
In 2023, the committee organised eleven events, including our two flagship events #EnvChem2023: Chemistry of the Whole Environment, Glasgow and hybrid, 1st-2nd June, and Distinguished Guest Lecture Water, water, everywhere
- is it still safe to drink? The pollution impact on water quality, 22nd May 2023, hosting Professor Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern as the Distinguished Guest.
The postponed State of the Art in the Analysis of Complex Environmental Matrices was held as a series of four 90-minute lunchtime webinars on 9th, 23rd January and 6th, 20th February. Symiah Barnett (Loughborough University) also ran her
RSC outreach grant-funded event Become a Chemist for a Day at Reading University on 3rd April, and gave a pollution awareness webinar for World Environment Day, 5th June, at Edwards Ltd (see p. 9).
Niall Marsay led a team of volunteers to two outreach events: ATOM in Abingdon and IF Oxford, where we performed public demonstrations such as the smoking ocean acidification and hands-on family-friendly science activities. In addition, I showcased our evaluation outreach activity Float or Sink? at the British Interactive Group (BIG) Event 28th July (see p. 10).
Our events totalled:
• 185 in-person attendees (excluding outreach)
• 215 online attendees
• ~170 meaningful outreach engagements (and ~1400
festival attendees)
•39 oral presentations
•1 round table discussion
•22 posters
Our website has also seen a good number of visits. We saw more than 11,300 unique visits January-October 2023, and over 15,000 page views. Analytics show that most (~89%) of viewers come through Google. With 158 views, our Environmental Briefs steal the lead for most visited web page, followed by the 2007 article on climate change, methane and ozone, which was most popular last year.
- is it still safe to drink? The pollution impact on water quality, 22nd May 2023, hosting Professor Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern as the Distinguished Guest.
The postponed State of the Art in the Analysis of Complex Environmental Matrices was held as a series of four 90-minute lunchtime webinars on 9th, 23rd January and 6th, 20th February. Symiah Barnett (Loughborough University) also ran her
RSC outreach grant-funded event Become a Chemist for a Day at Reading University on 3rd April, and gave a pollution awareness webinar for World Environment Day, 5th June, at Edwards Ltd (see p. 9).
Niall Marsay led a team of volunteers to two outreach events: ATOM in Abingdon and IF Oxford, where we performed public demonstrations such as the smoking ocean acidification and hands-on family-friendly science activities. In addition, I showcased our evaluation outreach activity Float or Sink? at the British Interactive Group (BIG) Event 28th July (see p. 10).
Our events totalled:
• 185 in-person attendees (excluding outreach)
• 215 online attendees
• ~170 meaningful outreach engagements (and ~1400
festival attendees)
•39 oral presentations
•1 round table discussion
•22 posters
Our website has also seen a good number of visits. We saw more than 11,300 unique visits January-October 2023, and over 15,000 page views. Analytics show that most (~89%) of viewers come through Google. With 158 views, our Environmental Briefs steal the lead for most visited web page, followed by the 2007 article on climate change, methane and ozone, which was most popular last year.
We also announce the creation of a new ECG website. Symiah Barnett has redesigned the existing site to make
it look more consistent with the parent Royal Society of Chemistry website. Our new website is found at rscecg.com, whilst legacy pages have been retained at envchemgroup.com. In particular, you can find historic ECG Newsletters and ECG Bulletins from 1995 at
https://www.envchemgroup.com/pdf-bulletins.html. The new look is part of our drive to create consistent branding and, hopefully, more accessible Bulletin publications. You may also have noticed a move towards RSC formatting and referencing style (https://edu.rsc.org/download?ac=522463), present in the last two ECG Bulletins. Work is still progressing in this area
it look more consistent with the parent Royal Society of Chemistry website. Our new website is found at rscecg.com, whilst legacy pages have been retained at envchemgroup.com. In particular, you can find historic ECG Newsletters and ECG Bulletins from 1995 at
https://www.envchemgroup.com/pdf-bulletins.html. The new look is part of our drive to create consistent branding and, hopefully, more accessible Bulletin publications. You may also have noticed a move towards RSC formatting and referencing style (https://edu.rsc.org/download?ac=522463), present in the last two ECG Bulletins. Work is still progressing in this area
