The conference on Solid State Chemistry (SSC) took place from 6-11 July 2008. Held biennually in the Czech and Slovak Republics, the event attracts participants from all over the world, including experts and many students. This year the conference took place in the beautiful city of Bratislava at the Druzba conference centre, Comenius University. Sponsored by IUPAC, the conference was endorsed by the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (Slovak Academy of Sciences), the Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology (Slovak University of Technology) and the Faculty of Natural Sciences (Comenius University).
The scientific programme covered the synthesis and characterisation of materials; crystal, electronic and magnetic structure; electrochemistry and molten salts; chemistry of glasses; novel inorganic materials and nanomaterials; layered compounds, clathrates and intercalates; and deposited films and surface chemistry. It was also a fantastic opportunity for social and scientific networking.
I was there to present my research work in the low-temperature synthesis, structural determination and study of the magnetic properties of materials containing oxyanions. My speech focused on ‘New organically-templated transition-metal sulphates and the study of their magnetic properties’. This was my first international conference as a presenter since I started my PhD and I benefited a lot from it. It was a great opportunity to present my work outside the UK, and an excellent opportunity to find out what research others are doing and build relationships with other attendees. I was also good to use and enhance my presentation skills and learn new and potentially useful techniques.
I enjoyed attending this conference and in particularly liked the friendly atmosphere which encouraged us all to exchange ideas and results with researchers in different areas of solid state chemistry.
I don’t want to miss the opportunity to thank SCI for supporting my attendance to this conference by offering me a bursary from the Messel Fund.
Patricia Leyva Bailen
Heriot Watt University
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