Thames and Kennet Group

Dr Stephen Lennon

Chair

Our main catchment area comprises the counties of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the North Downs to Surrey and West Sussex in the South, with the Universities of Reading and Surrey (Guildford) and Charterhouse School (Godalming) being our centres of activity. Meetings have also been held in a variety of other venues in the region, including universities, schools and centres of research.

The group's main focus is to enhance the public understanding of science; especially chemistry and related subjects. To this effect the group arranges and co-hosts a number of highly informative and popular events over the year. The emphasis continues to be on outreach to a wider public, particularly towards young people in schools and colleges.

We currently support undergraduate students at the Universities of Reading and Surrey with help towards the cost of textbooks or other items essential for their studies, with closer collaboration between the Universities of Reading and Surrey being forged. We reach more general audienceswith truly multidisciplinary science lectures at the Universities of Reading and Surrey and at Charterhouse. In the past few years topics have ranged from Dr Andrew Cox's (Colworth House, Unilever) tasty talk on ice creams, a sparkling lecture on fireworks by Dr Tom Smith (Davas Ltd), to Dr Nicholas Eastaugh's (The Pigmentum Project) account of art forgeries and art preservation, and Professor Barham's (University of Bristol) 'way of cooking', as he introduced and dazzled the audience with molecular gastronomy and the influence of chemistry on the senses.

All our events are published regularly in the Members' News pages of Chemistry & Industry and on the SCI website. The committee encourages and welcomes members who would like to play a more active role in the running of the group making the Group even more successful.