Group News

Following the death of Emeritus Professor Harry Nursten on 20 December 2011, aged 84, the former chair of the Thames and Kennet Group John Roddom writes

When your Board of Trustees last met on 16 November 2011, the key priority was to agree the rolling business plan for 2012-14 and the budget to implement this.

Schools in Oxfordshire nominated one outstanding Year 13 student for the Sixth Form Chemist of 2011 Award, hosted by Oxford University, SCI and the Oxfordshire Independent and State Schools Partnership

Water use to grow and process biomass feedstocks for fuels has recently emerged as an important controversy. In a world where several countries already face water stress – and where over 70% of global freshwater use takes place in the agricultural sector – bioenergy development might present considerable challenges, from the perspective of water quantity as well as water quality.

I attended the 241st ACS Spring National Meeting - 'Chemistry of Natural Resources - in Anaheim, USA on 27-31 March 2011.

Matt Hickson, of LGC Forensics, has been a forensic drugs analyst for 10 years since completing his MSc in Forensic Science at King's College London.

In June 2010 the Thames and Kennet Group hosted a visit to Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron facility

SCI's Horticulture Group will be conducting an evening tour of the gardens on 11 June 2010

Six young researchers won prizes for their presentations at BioResources Group’s recent Crop Productivity, Sustainability and Utility conference at the University of Reading. PhD students and post-docs from 14 universities and research institutes presented oral papers and posters at this multidisciplinary event.

At this conference, in the division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (AGFD), I presented a poster entitled: Measurement of some physical and chemical properties of reconstituted skim milk powder at high temperatures using dialysis membranes.

The Congress was attended by more than 3,000 participants and was a joint event between the Portuguese Horticultural Association and the Spanish Society for Horticultural Sciences. The Congress was a very large event including colloquia, symposia, seminars, workshops, poster sessions and exhibitions addressing every issue and specialisation of horticultural science and industry.

I was accepted to give a talk on ‘Evaluation of factors affecting shelf-life and quality biomarkers of imported avocado fruit’ in the ‘Postharvest’ session, one of the 18 symposia present at the conference.

Stephanie Burns, CEO and Chairman of Dow Corning and new Honorary President of SCI, talks about her experience leading a corporation where innovation is paramount. She also discusses SCI's role in driving knowledge transference in the chemical industry, CSR initiatives and innovative ideas for the future of SCI involving community engagement and mentoring of young scientists.

SCI is always happy to welcome new volunteers and members to the Society.

On Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September 2008, SCI ran two ‘workshop and best practice sharing’ events, open to all Treasurers, Secretaries and Chairs of Regional Interest (RIG) and Technical Interest Groups (TIG).

The main aim of SCI is to bring members together and an online forum can help us do this through the web.

On Monday, 28 September 2009, SCI will be hosting a one-day ‘Volunteer Workshop and Best Practice’ day for the Honorary Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers of all its UK-based Interest Groups.

Around a third of shopping piled into trolleys ends up in the bin, as consumers buy too much, or are too generous when it comes to dishing up meals

Recent mergers and acquisitions have resulted in a contraction of the industry to six major discovery-based participants. However, concerns over global food supply, exacerbated by use of significant crop areas to produce biofuels, have provided the industry with fresh impetus.

Chemistry will continue to play a pivotal role in pest management strategies to combat herbivorous pests of food crops and control insect vectors of human pathogens such as malaria.

In November 2009, schools in Oxfordshire nominated one outstanding Year 13 student for the Sixth Form Chemist of 2009. The Award was hosted by Oxford University, The Society of Chemical Industry and the Oxfordshire Independent and State Schools Partnership (OISSP).

 Recently-appointed IPCC member Professor Jim Skea spoke to the SCI Thames and Kennet Regional Group on the risks from, and possible solutions to, man-made climate change.

Two SCI groups visited the coal and gas-fired Didcot Power Station in June 2009. Most of the electricity produced is used to balance electricity consumption in the southeast of the UK.

A former PhD student and research fellow in chemistry, Oliver now teaches chemistry at Charterhouse School.

The use of cannabis as a medicine was discussed by Liz Williamson, professor of pharmacy at the University of Reading, UK, at a meeting of the Thames and Kennet Regional Group on 21 February 2007 at the university’s chemistry department.