16 Nov 2011
The third Networking Event featuring SCI's scholars was held at the University of York's chemistry department on 7 October 2011, and featured three scholars presenting on their work. This event was initiated by the College of Scholars in Cambridge in 2009, and has proved to be an excellent opportunity to showcase the research of the scholars, to encourage networking between students and regional groups and to promote the SCI within academia. The event was popular, with well over 50 students, academics and local SCI members in attendance.
Peter Reineck from the Yorkshire and the Humber regional group chaired the session and led off with an introduction to SCI, and in particular its relevance to students, with both scholarships and travel bursaries attracting particular attention from the new PhD students at the lecture! The scholars presented on a wide range of topics, with Kevin Back (University of Manchester) presenting on pharmaceutical crystallisation, Liam Ball (University of Bristol) giving an excellent talk on the emerging role of gold catalysis in organic synthesis, and Philip Craven (pictured), on his home turf, making his research into a fascinating story of progress towards synthesising related natural products.
The talks were received with a great deal of interest, and despite the diverse fields, all presenters were asked questions by experts within their own area as well as more general questions, reflecting the broad composition of the audience. The presentations were followed by a networking session, with a number of follow-up questions being discussed in addition to the networking between students, academics and industrialists. These discussions led to a collaboration being set up between Liam Ball and a group at York University. Thanks go to Philip Craven and his supervisor, Chemistry Head of Department Prof Richard Taylor, as well as to Dr Natalie Fey, Prof Alan Heaton and Charne Green of SCI, for their sterling work in organising an extremely successful event.
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