Research
14th EYCN Delegate Assembly in Bremen
The motivated young scientists of the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) continue to promote chemistry across and beyond Europe. Over the past year, the representatives from 29 European countries facilitated the exchange of knowledge and experience among young chemists in academia and industry, as well as in professional and governing bodies, increasing the visibility of chemistry, while supporting young chemists at the beginning of their careers.
The 14th Delegate Assembly (DA) of the EYCN took place in Bremen, Germany, on 17-20 March 2019 and was organised with the support of the German Young Chemists’ Network (GDCh-JCF). In addition to the Delegates and former Board Members, led by the Chair, Alice Soldà, who provided overviews of their respective activities, a number of guests contributed to the event. Among them, the GDCh CEO, Wolfram Koch, welcomed the EYCN delegates and guests virtually. Furthermore, the EuChemS President Pilar Goya Laza, and Science Communication and Policy Officer, Alex Schiphorst, talked about the role and activities of EuChemS. In addition to the European partners, the American Chemical Society (ACS) was represented by Jackie O’Neil and Juan Carlos Aponte-Santini from the ACS-YCC. Other insightful contributions were provided by Bibiana Campos-Seijo, Editor-in-Chief of C&EN, Catherine Rawlins (Conference Presence Chair of IYCN), Anni Siltanen (ECEG and the Finnish Chemical Industry), Christian Bürger (CEO of chembid GmbH), and Matthias Kleff from Evonik Industries, long-term partner and sponsor of the EYCN.
The 14th DA was also accompanied by the elections for the new, biennial Board of EYCN. New Board members were elected, as detailed on the EYCN website. Antonio M. Rodríguez García, a postdoctoral researcher was elected Chair of the EYCN for the next two years, taking over from Alice Soldà. The 15th DA of EYCN, will take place in February 2020 in Sitges, Spain, organised by the Catalan Chemical Society.
Over the next two years, the EYCN will continue with its activities and the involvement in public outreach events, taking part in national and international chemistry-related events, organising meetings, and promoting the interaction of the young chemists’ community at a European level. Furthermore, the EYCN will support young chemists by establishing international collaborations and promoting awards and prizes, as well as delivering soft-skills trainings to stimulate their career development.
The EYCN Team
Chemistry Rediscovered video contest: “In Your Element”
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Dimitri Mendeleev’s development of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. Based on this important milestone in chemical history, the United Nations proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The EYCN took the opportunity to organise the 2nd edition of its Chemistry Rediscovered video contest on this occasion. The competition was open for all young Europeans between 12 and 35 years of age and challenged them to create a video lasting a maximum of 90 seconds on the theme “In your element”.
Following up on the previous edition of Chemistry Rediscovered in 2017, this year’s contest was a tremendous success and more than 250 videos were submitted from 17 different countries across Europe. The submissions showed a remarkable variety of chosen topics and, to our delight, most of the chemical elements were used as inspiration to make interesting and educational videos. It’s noteworthy that more than 85% of the participants were under 18 years old, which highlights teenagers’ interest for chemistry and science in general and is a pleasure to witness. After the jury’s deliberation, the two winning teams were unveiled, one for each age category (under 18 and over 18 years old), and the winners will have the opportunity to attend a special event at the Maison de la Chimie organised by the young chemists during the 47th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in July 2019 in Paris. At this event, the winners will be congratulated during an award ceremony and their videos will be shown in front of the large audience attending the event.
We hope that this contest has encouraged young people, pupils and students alike, to tackle chemistry and experience the fun that science can provide. The winning videos will be published on our YouTube channel (youtube.eycn.eu) over the coming weeks. This year’s edition of the Chemistry Rediscovered contest was a great success and we are now looking forward to the early organisational stages of the 3rd edition – coming in 2020.
Maximilian Menche, Sébastien Prévost, EYCN
Food Chemistry for the future of Europe
The EuChemS Division of Food Chemistry is glad to announce that its Divisional Congress (EuroFoodChem XX) is soon approaching! Food Chemistry, a basic discipline within the Food Sciences, enables the understanding of the complex chemical and biochemical phenomena occurring in food and in processed food. Considering the deep interplays among Food Technology, Nutrition Sciences and Analytical Chemistry, Food Chemistry as a discipline allows us to improve our knowledge about traditional and novel foods, as well as elucidating the effect of traditional and novel processing on them. All these themes (and many others, particularly related to food bioactivity, regulatory affairs and food quality/safety) will be debated during the next EuroFoodChem XX.
Following the previous editions held in different European countries since 1981, the EuroFoodChem XX will take place from 17 – 19 June 2019 in Porto, Portugal, under the auspices of the EuChemS Division of Food Chemistry and the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ).
One of the most important aims of the EuroFoodChem conferences is to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of innovative ideas between researchers from academia and industry who share a general interest in Food Chemistry in all its aspects and interfaces, including universities, research centres, industry professionals, consumers, policy makers and control authorities. Over the years, this conference has allowed the bringing together of students and younger colleagues with experienced researchers, allowing for the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge.
The programme of the EuroFoodChem XX will consist of a number of plenary sessions and keynotes on current topics, delivered by internationally renowned researchers. The scientific programme will also include several oral presentations and poster sessions, aiming at the scientific dissemination of the works and a high scientific quality. A competition for students/young researchers on the Periodic Table and Food Chemistry to celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table is also being prepared. The attendance of students is encouraged by affordable registration fees and by a best poster award contest, attributed to the best 3 posters presented at the conference. Abstracts submission for poster presentation is still open until 31 May 2019.
The Organising Committee of EuroFoodChem XX looks forward to welcoming you in Porto!
Marco Arlorio, Joana Amaral and Michael Murkovic
EuChemS Division of Food Chemistry
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