Is there a crisis in UK chemistry?
Liverpool Regional Group: Hurter Memorial Lecture preview: 10 November, Liverpool University, UK
Is chemistry in crisis? The UK has all of the
components needed to develop a world
leading chemical industry. However this
ambition has not really been achieved and the
industry is viewed by many as declining. How
do recent, high-profile closures of chemistry
departments in the country’s academic institutions affect the future of the UK science base? How have the UK pharmaceutical industry's needs changed as it entered the 21st century? How will the chemical industry evolve in the face of increasing competition from Asian economies?
In anticipation of answering these, and many other important
questions, the Liverpool Regional Group is proud to host the 2005
Hurter Memorial Lecture, sponsored by AstraZeneca and given
by David Lathbury. In his presentation, Lathbury, director
of process chemistry with AstraZeneca Process Research and
Development, based in Loughborough, will argue that the UK
still has all the components required to be successful, but
needs a strategy involving all key stakeholders. He will outline
his personal view on some of the reasons behind the current
perceived decline, along with his thoughts and suggestions
on how this might be reversed. Until all interested parties
can collaborate effectively, progress will be limited. Industry,
government and educational institutes must work much more
collaboratively in future. The role of large UK pharmaceutical
firms in this process will also be discussed, and their benefit
to the UK chemicals sector will be analysed.
The Hurter Memorial Lecture
Ferdinand Hurter (1844–1898) was born in Switzerland
and was a founding member of SCI. He established the Central
Laboratory, built in 1881 by the United Alkali Company.
Here, in addition to many important industrial processes
being developed, the scientific foundations of photography
were laid. Hurter was a member of the original Liverpool
Regional Group Committee and its Chairman from 1888-1890. He
was elected vice president of SCI on two occasions.The
first Hurter Memorial lecture was given by George Lunge
of Zurich, a close friend and collaborator of Hurter.
Fourteen years later it was given by Fritz Haber, inventor
of the Haber-Bosch process. |
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