Editorial

Science is international

Science is an international endeavour and collaborative in nature. It offers the most benefit to society when researchers from different backgrounds – be that country, sector or discipline – come together to share knowledge and expertise.

International collaboration is critical to the success of the chemical sciences. We all know chemistry plays many vital roles in tackling global challenges, such as achieving net zero ambitions, developing new, greener products, and improving human health.

Through countless conversations and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Science Horizons report, we know international collaboration is crucial for the advancement of chemistry, alongside collaboration between disciplines and sectors. European Framework Programmes are an essential enabler for this. The strength of the partnerships they develop provides enormous benefits.

European Framework Programmes are important for the chemical sciences. Through Horizon 2020, the chemical sciences have been awarded over €7 billion in funding and there were over 16,000 participants (people or organisations) in chemical science-related projects.  Even more importantly, it has catalysed many fruitful collaborations.

Since 2016, the Royal Society of Chemistry and many other science bodies have made a strong case for UK association to Horizon Europe. While we still hope this will happen and it is set out in treaty agreements, wider political disputes could easily prevent it. This is a major concern for scientists based in the UK, who value European collaborations and the programmes that make this easy. I and they appreciate the efforts other European chemical societies and chemical scientists are making by speaking up for maintaining collaboration, for example through the Stick to Science campaign.

Whatever happens with UK association to Horizon Europe, the Royal Society of Chemistry will continue to support our community in seeking to collaborate both Europe-wide and world-wide for the good of science. We are proud to be a member of EuChemS and will continue to work with other European chemical societies to help chemical scientists work together to make the world a better place.

Helen Pain
Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK

Focus

EuChemS General Assembly and Professional Networks meetings held in Lisbon

Preceding the 8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress, the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) held its General Assembly meetings in Lisbon, in person for the first time in two years. On 26 August representatives of EuChemS Member Societies with voting rights met to discuss and decide on key issues regarding EuChemS. During the meeting, the next President-Elect and Treasurer were elected and introduced – Angela Agostiano and Hans Peter Lüthi, respectively. Congratulations!

On the next morning, 27 August, an open discussion on numerous topics was held, ranging from awards to strategic subjects. On the day’s afternoon, the representatives of Professional Networks considered numerous matters related to their operations. In addition, the outlines for the ECC9 were announced, and progress updates were made on the next Congress by Celine Marmion.

The PDF version will be available soon.