Celebrating the career of Professor Brian Vincent
Event review: conference and gala dinner
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| Conference dinner attendees (left to right): Terry Cosgrove, Mrs Fleer, Gerard
Fleer, Johannes Lyklema, Maggie Cosgrove, Brian Vincent, Mary Vincent (more pictures) |
A two-day conference,
‘New Frontiers in Colloid Science’,
was held at Lord’s Cricket Ground
in London on 1-2 April 2008. This
meeting was jointly organised by
the RSC Colloid and Interface
Science Group and the SCI Colloid
and Surface Chemistry Group to
celebrate the career of Professor
Brian Vincent. Brian retired from
the post of Leverhulme Chair of
Physical Chemistry at the University
of Bristol at the end of 2007. Over
many years, he has been a fantastic
servant of UK science, and throughout
his career a leading light of
both the SCI and RSC Colloid
Groups. Brian has had an enormous
influence on colloid science in the
UK, and through his work with
IACIS and ECIS he has also had a
significant impact on colloid science
across the world.
Brian has received many honours,
including the SCI Founder’s
Lecture and Award, the SCI
Distinguished Service Award, the
RSC award in Surface and Colloid
Chemistry and the Rehbinder
Lecture and Medal (Moscow). He
has had numerous invitations to
give lectures throughout the
world and has published over 250
papers, articles, books and patents.
He has also been very active
at the academia/industry interface,
and has been a consultant
for many of the leading companies
that use colloid technology
worldwide.
The conference consisted of a
small number of invited speakers,
who covered a wide range of
polymer, colloid and interface
science. The speakers (travelling
from the UK, Australia, the
United States and the
Netherlands) had all either
worked for, or collaborated with
Brian during their careers, and
they reflected Brian’s worldwide
influence on colloid science. The
talks highlighted the wide applicability
of polymer and colloid
science in areas as diverse
as particles to model space dust,
paint films, nanotechnology and
drug delivery systems (see Conference downloads). The topics
chosen reflected the areas of colloid
science where Brian has
made significant contributions
and also provided a perspective
on where these areas are heading in the future. Over 100 delegates
attended the meeting (of whom
almost a quarter were from overseas)
representing both academic
and industrial affiliations.
The choice of the conference
venue, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, reflected
Brian’s passion for cricket,
and fittingly, the conference dinner
was held in the Long Room at
Lord’s. Both the meeting and black
tie dinner were truly memorable
events and a fitting tribute to one
of the stalwarts of colloid science.
SCI Colloid and Surface Chemistry Group
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