Two and a half months of organisation, forty enthusiastic volunteers and 2kg of bicarbonate of soda = a successful RSC stand at the Cambridge Science Festival!

In addition to our rotation work, the RSC graduates also have their own “grad projects”. Since I was in the Education team, I was appointed project manager for the task of organising the RSC stand at the Cambridge Science Festival this year. This is the first time that I have managed people formally and it was definitely a daunting prospect at first! 

Working with people you know well is a nice gentle introduction to project management – it means that you can make mistakes and learn from them in a friendly environment!  It was also nice to have the freedom to make the stand our own, decide on the hands-on activities and work with the Design team to produce posters, hand outs and flyers to attract people to come along.

I would say that the most challenging part was making sure that we had thought of everything that needed to be organised – from booking enough t-shirts for the volunteers to designing stickers to record the number of people who got involved.  I also learnt that it is impossible to plan for all eventualities – sometimes you just have to improvise!

When the day came, it was fantastic to see all of our hard work come together and everyone having a great time.  It is also really satisfying to have been involved in something which has had so much positive feedback.

---

Amy Styring is a Graduate working on the Royal Society of Chemistry's Graduate Scheme. To see if there are any current vacancies go to RSC Latest Vacancies or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email  

---

I have just started my fourth and final rotation in the Chemistry World editorial team.

Before that I spent three months in the communications team working on RSC News – the monthly newsletter for RSC members. I got involved in all aspects of production of the magazine, from writing news and features to proofreading the final version every month. A lot of this was completely new to me, as I had never experienced the whole process of putting a print publication together from start to finish. There’s something really satisfying about seeing a text heavy word document transformed into a colourful double page spread.

I really enjoyed working on RSC News, and I was lucky enough to rotate into the Chemistry World team, where I will be working for the next six months. Chemistry World is the RSC’s flagship monthly magazine that covers news and opinion from across the chemical sciences. I am looking forward to honing my writing skills working on the magazine as well as other RSC publications like Education in Chemistry and The Mole.

Over the last few weeks the grad projects have also been keeping me busy. Tomorrow we will entertain budding chemists of all ages with some energetic, messy and edible demonstrations at the Cambridge Science Festival. There's event a giant cardboard cutout of Benedict Cumberbatch to go with our latest competition! If you’re in the area, why not come and say hi?

---

Emma Stoye is a Graduate working on the Royal Society of Chemistry's Graduate Scheme. To see if there are any current vacancies go to RSC Latest Vacancies or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email

---

I’ve now been at the RSC for eight months, and am fully trained in all key aspects of the job.

It’s still a good time to be part of the Materials team. Following the split of the Journal of Materials Chemistry into a family of three at the beginning of the year, we’ve just announced the launch of a brand new high impact materials journal, Materials Horizons. This new addition to the family will showcase cutting-edge research and will open for submissions in April in preparation for the publication of the first issue later this year. Identifying the standard of work we’re looking to publish in this leading new journal will keep us all on our toes, and I’m looking forward to the meetings and discussions we’ll be having as we assess the submissions. The team has also been growing, and now no fewer than six members of the team have joined since I did. I’m starting to feel like an old hand!

The RSC encourages training and development both as part of the graduate scheme and beyond, and I recently took part in an exercise to become more familiar with how the business side of the organisation works. It’s good to be able to take a step back and think about the wider RSC outside of publishing.

Outside of work, I’ve started running regularly with colleagues, after taking part in a charity fun run round the science park. We manage to get out most weeks now, but are always looking for more people to join us!

---

Stephen is a Graduate working in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Publishing Department. To see if there are any vacancies go to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' Blog or subscribe to 'RSC: Latest Vacancies' by Email