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NEWS Get seen on the web and win £500 STUDENTS HAVE THE chance of winning up to £500 by entering the RSC’s webbased competition, Exemplarchem. If you are an undergraduate or a postgraduate in the chemical sciences you can enter the 2004 competition by submitting a presentation covering any topic in chemistry, biochemistry, materials or related subjects. Authors of the best projects will be awarded prizes of £250 and the overall winner £500, plus £1,000 for his or her university department. The 2004 prize-winners’ event will take place on 29 October at the English Heritage (formerly Scientific Societies) Lecture Theatre, New Burlington Place, London. ■i Last year’s winner, postgraduate student and RSC member Tony Dixon from the University of Leeds, collected £500 for his capillary electrophoresis website The closing date for entries is 30 September. Go to www.chemsoc. org/exemplarchem or contact Sean McWhinnie, email mcwhinnies@rsc.org, tel 020 7440 3309 New Organic Division president RAY JONES HAS taken over from Richard Taylor as president of the Organic Division. Jones will preside over the division until Ray Jones (on the right) with Richard Taylor 2006. He said that after a period of change and updating of the division’s operation, the former president “has left me a strong division”. Letters Argument for a selective system I am concerned that there is no hope of the present university system being able to produce a sufficiency of the real scientists needed to prevent “the loss of world-class SET expertise”, to which Dr McWhinnie referred (RSC News June, page 5). The solution is a return to the state school system that existed until theorists and idealists sought to force all but the privately educated through an unselective education system. The government-desired shape of the school system will never obtain and retain appropriately qualified and enthusiastic graduate physics, chemistry and mathematics teachers “to provide excellent teaching in schools” if they are condemned to labour in an unselective comprehensive structure. Before the second world war, a south Wales city could provide a route by which those who, like myself, could not call on their families to finance them through the system could nevertheless be assessed as fit to proceed. From there it was possible – by a selective examination system – to proceed to at least a local university with free studentships and sometimes with supplementary “exhibition” or similar financing to a first degree (without the appalling drop-out rate that appears to occur today even in the “Mickey Mouse” subjects). As I understand the position, the undoubted problem of the later-developing child was, in early post-war years, remedied by the ability of such to enter a grammar school on the basis of subsequent performance. If only comprehensive schools exist, this of course cannot be provided. It seems inescapable that uniform teaching remuneration across the whole school system will not be effective in making this possible or successful. Moreover, such appointments must be made competitive with opportunities open to such people in other fields. Clearly, the likely unpopularity of such a situation must be made acceptable and its funding be given the necessary priority over some of the other claims on the public purse. GV Coles CChem FRSC Victoria, Australia Who should fund CPD? The usual reaction to discussions on the state of education is that more money should be given to the teachers. So it was no surprise to To comment on anything in RSC News, send a FEEDBACK letter or email to the editor (details on page 16) read the lead headline in the RSC News August (“Give funds to teachers, labs and universities”). However, another document dropped on my desk recently: the Audit Commission’s report on Education Funding (July 2004), which highlighted that nobody quite knew what funding was going into education and, once it got there, what was being done with it. The RSC News article stimulated some thoughts on continuing professional development. In the old days, when societies were nobbut institutes, continuing professional development used to be “part of the game”. It was what you did when you had nothing more professionally productive to do. That was, mark you, in the days before television and barbeques. Much of what today would be labelled “CPD” took place then in the evening and at weekends. Those participating (the great majority of those in the profession) took pride in their personal development, and paid for the training from their salaries. Salaries, for those not old enough to remember, are what used to be paid to professionals in return for a 24- hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week commitment. I was a bit surprised to read, therefore, that science teachers’ CPD, done right, would cost an extra £70 million a year. Whose £70 million is that exactly? You have highlighted that without increased investment in education the UK is in danger of losing its general manufacturing business to the Far East. The problem with that statement is that the tense is wrong; general manufacturing in the UK has already been lost to the Far East. The response of our tertiary education sector has been to follow the market, and help accelerate the trend. I don’t know whether that is a right or wrong policy; I just know that it gives me an uncomfortable feeling, and one that other people pouring my money into an unfocussed educational system does little to assuage. PW Munn CChem MRSC By email No deaths It’s comforting to note there have been no deaths recorded in the August issue of RSC News. Long may it continue! MR Kuhnel CChem MRSC By email 6 R S C N E W S | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 W W W . R S C . O R G
EVENTS Fine keynote speakers THE THIRD RSC Postgraduate Symposium on Medicinal and Organic Chemistry will take place at the Open University, Milton Keynes on 10 December 2004, and will also celebrate the opening of the new research laboratories, writes Davina Stevenson. The 2004 keynote speaker is confirmed as the distinguished Prof Ian Fleming FRS (University of Cambridge). Ian’s “Stereocontrol in Organic Chemistry, With and Without Silicon” will conclude what is sure to be an outstanding day of chemical science and networking. Last year, Prof Chris Moody’s keynote lecture, “Adventures in Heterocyclic Chemistry”, concluded a spirited and enthusiastic second symposium, held in Cambridge in December. The 2003 event, organised by the Mid-Anglia RSC, showcased the innovative research of 46 postgraduate students who gave a mixture of oral and poster presentations. The success of the event demonstrated that organic chemistry in the UK has an encouraging and strong future. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsoring companies of this year’s symposium, registration is free. Travel bursaries are also available. ■i For further details, contact Dr James Bruce, email j.i.bruce@open.ac.uk, or Ryan Gilmour, email rg291@cam.ac.uk. Registration is open until 1 November, and there is a call for abstracts Learn how to book keep TERRY GILLARD WILL run the next Chemical Consultancy Forum Continuing Professional Development Workshop on “Bookkeeping and Accounts: Monitoring your business”. It takes place on 14 October at RSC Burlington House (address on page 16). Gillard has operated his own business since 1989, providing bookkeeping services to a number of clients. The workshop will introduce a range of bookkeeping and accounting Know more about drinking water THE RSC WATER Science Forum is organising a one-day professional development seminar on taste and odour in drinking water. It will be held in London on 20 September. Not only will the seminar provide background information to the regulatory regime for people coming into the industry, it will also be of value solutions and discuss how they can be used to benefit your business. Costs are as follows: Chemical Consultancy Forum members £160; RSC members who are not members of the Chemical Consultancy Forum £170; and non-RSC members £190. ■i to those in the industry that wish to update their knowledge. ■i For further information, contact Kirsten Gower, tel +44 (0)20 7440 3313, email gowerk@rsc.org For further information, contact Maggi Churchouse Events, 3 East Barn, Market Weston Road, Thelnetham, Diss, Norfolk IP22 1JJ, email maggi@mchurchouse.fsnet.co.uk Book now for the Additives 2005 event “ADDITIVES 2005: OPTIMISING automotive power trains” takes place in Dublin from 5 to 7 April 2005. It brings together the automotive and chemical industries and academia to provide a forum at which to share ideas for future developments in the science and technology of fuels and lubricants. The deadline for abstracts for oral presentations is 17 September. The “Additives” exhibition traditionally attracts participants from industry, and RSC Conferences is now taking bookings for spaces. Limited sponsorship opportunities for specific aspects of the conference are also available. ■i For or more information, go to www.rsc.org/additives2005 Focus on sustainable energy THE RSC’S ENVIRONMENT, Sustainability and Energy Forum (ESEF) and the Materials Chemistry Forum (MCF) are organising a workshop – Materials for Sustainable Energy Technologies – at Burlington House, London on 15 November 2004. Materials chemistry is a cross-cutting theme which underpins advances in different sustainable energy technologies. The workshop will bring together materials chemists who are working to develop technologies that will provide solutions for our future energy needs. The breakout sessions will seek to identify R&D priorities in materials chemistry which need to be addressed to realise developments in sustainable energy technologies. This workshop is kindly supported by the EPSRC. Registration is free so please apply as early as possible, as places are limited. ■i For more information, contact Dr Eimear Cotter, RSC Burlington House, tel +44 (0)20 7440 3333, email cottere@rsc.org, or go to www.rsc.org/ science/esef.htm Last opportunities to take part BY REGISTERING EARLY for the following events in November, you can save £50 or more: ● BioNano Technology II, 11 November, London ● Creating Business through Change Management, 17 November, London ● Entrepreneurs’ Masterclass, 25 November, London Calls for papers’ deadlines are fast approaching for the following events (see the RSC conferences web pages for details of deadlines): ● Formula IV: Frontiers in Formulation Science, 4 to 7 July 2005, London ● MC7: Functional Materials for the 21st Century, 5 to 8 July 2005, Edinburgh. ■i For more information, go to www. rsc.org/conferences. Alternatively, send an email to conferences@rsc.org W W W . R S C . O R G R S C N E W S | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 7
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