Networks

A look back at the 3rd European Young Chemists’ Meeting

On the 21 January, after months of planning, rescheduling, and ultimately having to take place online, the 3rd EYCheM came to a close. The conference, which was organised by the young Swiss Chemical Society (youngSCS), the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS), and the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN), featured a diverse scientific program, while providing ample opportunities for young researchers to share their research.

Following opening remarks by Lluc Farrera-Soler (youngSCS) and Maximilian Menche (EYCN), who introduced their respective societies and their actions, the first plenary session was held by Bettina V. Lotsch, who presented her groups’ recent advances in tuning crystallinity in organic and metal-organic frameworks. After a series of talks by young scientists, Omar M. Yaghi (UC Berkeley) held the second plenary lecture. Widely considered the father of framework materials and a true pioneer in the design of new framework materials, he urged the audience not to give up on crystallinity and that the time has come for framework materials to find broad applications, which he demonstrated by showcasing framework designs capable of water harvesting under arid conditions. Following a virtual poster session, Cafer T. Yavuz showcased nanocatalysts’ role in reducing humankind’s climate impact by providing industrially viable CO2 conversion platforms. Next, Miriam M. Unterlass demonstrated how water under hydrothermal conditions can act as a green alternative to common organic solvents in the synthesis of small molecules and polymers. The last invited lecture was held by Michael Graetzel, who presented his work on organic photovoltaics.

Networking was a key focus besides providing an opportunity for young scientists to present their work in an international setting. Despite taking place online, this could successfully be facilitated through a Gather.town (a browser-based virtual meeting interface) room which was available throughout the entire conference. Additionally, several prizes for excellent poster and oral presentations were awarded.

Three workshops took place on the final day. Fernando Gomollon-Bel discussed the importance of effective science communication before Claudia Bonfio led a discussion on diversity featuring Jess Wade, Rachel Hevey, Tom Welton, and Jovana V. Milic. Lastly, Ganna Lyashenco introduced the audience to the intricacies of the submitting articles and having them accepted.

We would like to thank the organising and scientific committees for their extensive work as well as the immense support provided by the Swiss Chemical Society and the sponsors of the conference.

Patrick W. Fritz
Communications Team Leader EYCN & youngSCS

 

German Chemical Society (GDCh) app

The need to make content relevant to the chemical community available anytime and anywhere is addressed by the newly developed GDCh app. It enables members to have the GDCh’s most important contributions with them at all times. The articles of the members’ magazine, the press releases, the GDCh tweets, but also links to the latest publications of the preprint server ChemRxiv are conveniently available on mobile phones. The app is available for free in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, for non-members as well. The content is also available at www.gdch.app

Karin J. Schmitz
GDCh public relations

 

Automatic translation of all German Chemical Society’s websites

In order to be well prepared for the future, internationalisation and digitisation are important topics for the German Chemical Society (GDCh).

Thus, the GDCh has implemented a translation tool that automatically translates all GDCh web pages into English with the help of artificial intelligence. Also, all changes made on one of the more than 1000 web pages are available in English a few minutes later. This makes the articles and information on the GDCh website accessible to chemists who do not speak German. This way, the GDCh hopes to reach out to guest scientists from all over the world in Germany, on the one hand, but also to chemists abroad. Since many of the scientific journals, such as the ChemistryEurope group, also publish in English and GDCh meetings are more and more often held in English, the GDCh will increasingly present itself internationally and address chemists in Germany as well as all over the world.

Karin J. Schmitz
GDCh public relations