Dear all,

Welcome to the September edition of the networks newsletter. Apologies for the lack of an August newsletter - due to long term staff absence and other leave we have been trying our best to keep up. We're looking forward to both the Local Section Day and the Interest Group Forum.

For those of you worried about Stéphanie as she has been off for a number of weeks - we're delighted to say that we've seen her today and she'll hopefully be back with us soon.

Upcoming Administration Deadlines

Upcoming Events

Communications from across the RSC

Rules for Member Networks

We would like to remind each committee that all feedback on the proposed rules for member networks must be submitted electronically by 8am on 4th September 2017 at the latest. If your committee is not meeting before the deadline we request that you share the information by email - due to the timelines for approval any feedback received after the deadline may not be taken into account. Any general themes raised will then be discussed by the Regional Steering Groups at their autumn meetings.

Christmas Cards

Any Local Sections wishing to order RSC Christmas cards to send out to selected members of your section the deadline for orders is 11 September 2017 and we will arrange to dispatch the cards and address labels to you at the end of October.

You may want to consider ordering the labels in postcode order (rather than surname order). This should help the larger Local Sections whose Volunteers are divided up and look after specific postcode areas.

As in 2016 the Chemists’ Community Fund would like to offer each Local Section the opportunity to reclaim their postage costs if they include information in their mailing promoting the Fund. The attached letter has been prepared by the Fund staff for inclusion although you can, of course, prepare your own letter should you wish. If you would like to reclaim the cost of postage from the Fund an expense claim with receipts should be sent to BenFund@rsc.org.

Please send an email request (msadmin@rsc.org ) by 11 September 2017 including:

• The selection criteria of the members (e.g. over 70 or retired)
• If you wish to receive the printed and pre-folded Chemists’ Community Fund letters

Please be aware that electronic Christmas cards are not available this year.

Local Section Day 2017

We are looking forward to meeting representatives from many of our Local Sections in the UK and Ireland this month. The day will start at 10am and finish at 3:30pm.  We hope to have a constructive day celebrating the wonderful activities of our Local Sections, recognising the winners of our Awards and having interesting discussions.

Interest Group Forum 2017

We are also looking forward to meeting representatives from many of our Interest Groups. The forum is the new governance meeting for Interest Groups and it is important that as many groups are represented as possible. We have a packed agenda and anticipate some constructive discussions.

Chemistry Week (http://www.rsc.org/campaigning-outreach/outreach/everyone/)

20 – 26 November 2017

We want to support you with activities and events in Chemistry Week, from inspiring the next generation, with personal stories about where chemistry has taken you, to celebrating the diversity of discovery within our community. Grants of up to £750 are now available and all applications will be considered whether you need £50 to purchase consumables or £500 for venue hire and catering, simply apply using the following link Chemistry Week grants (http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/Y465T/).

The final deadline to apply for funding to support your planned activities is 27 September 2017.

Outreach Fund – Small Grants

2 October 2017

Our Outreach Fund is currently open to applications for small grants up to £2,000 to support schools and public engagement projects. If you have a new idea or have been developing a project that centres around enriching students’ chemistry education,  increasing public confidence to communicate chemistry or supporting members to get involved in outreach then please do get in touch or make an application for funding. For more information and to make an applications please use the following link to the Outreach pages on our website (http://www.rsc.org/awards-funding/funding/outreach-fund/)

Recognising our members

We were delighted to present all of our Inspirational Member Award winners and four of our Award for Service winners with their awards at the Summer Party in London. Futher information about the event is on our website: http://www.rsc.org/news-events/features/2017/jul/summer-party/

Upcoming Local to You Career Consultations

Are you looking to speak to a Career Specialist about anything related to your career? During September, October and November the Career Management team will be travelling across the UK to hold one-to-one career consultations for members. There are still appointments available for Lincoln, Belfast, Birmingham and many more. You can find out more and book here. We also hold regular appointments at our offices in London and Cambridge so if you’d like to speak to someone or find out more about the Career Management team then please email us careers@rsc.org.

GDPR

This is a change in law and we are asking for the following information so that we can support you as volunteers.

The Networks Team is here to offer support, guidance and help to all Interest Groups and as part of this would like to highlight the changes in the data protection law, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), coming into place next year. In order to help you deliver events, communications, and services to your members  we wanted to address the changes with you to help ensure that we are all in line with the new regulations. The new regulations are coming into place in May 2018, with much of the focus around consent:

• Consent under the GDPR requires some form of clear affirmative action. For non-RSC members pre-ticked boxes or inactivity does not constitute on going consent.
• For non-RSC members, consent must be verifiable. This means that some form of record must be kept of how and when consent was given.
• Individuals (non-RSC members) have a right to withdraw consent at any time.
• Remember that you can rely on alternative legal bases to consent – for example, where processing is necessary for the purposes of your group’s legitimate interests.
• If you should use a third party to deliver some of your groups work, then you will need to have a data processing agreement in place. This is currently being updated and will be in place in good time for May.
• Where you already rely on consent that was sought under the existing DPA, you will not be required to obtain fresh consent from individuals if the standard of that consent meets the new requirements under the GDPR (see Recital 171). Implementation of the GDPR will require a review of consent mechanisms to ensure they meet the standards required under the legislation.
• If you cannot reach the GDPR standard of consent then you must find an alternative legal basis or cease or not start the processing in question. Please do get in touch with the Networks Team at networks@rsc.org if you have any questions or concerns in the first instance.

As part of the preparation for these new regulations we feel it would be timely to audit the information on members that our Interest Groups hold and request your assistance by answering the questions in the attached form so we can identify where we need to offer support to you, so we can be in accordance with the changes.

It is important that you send the appropriate information Friday, 6th October.

Should you wish to discuss this further on the phone or in person, or should you have any questions or concerns, please do contact us (networks@rsc.org).

This newsletter including additional information from other departments is also available online(http://my.rsc.org/blogs/81).

Please feel free to encourage other members of your committee to read the newsletter online.

We welcome any feedback you have on what you would like included in this newsletter; please email any suggestions to networks@rsc.org.

Kind regards,

The Networks Team

Fiona, Nic & Stephanie

Additional information from other departments

Royal Society – Royal Society of Chemistry Funding available

The Newton Mobility Grants (Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) programme is intended to stimulate collaborations between scientists in the UK and overseas partner countries. This must result in the training and transferring knowledge as well as skills to help strengthen research capabilities of the overseas partner. The applicant can apply up to £3,000 for 3 months, up to £6,000 for 1 year or up to £12,000 for 2 years duration project. The application deadline is 10 October 2017 15:00 UK time. Further details can be found on their webpage https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/newton-mobility-grants/

Pan Africa Chemistry Network Congress 2017: Sustainable Agriculture

This year's Congress will take place in Accra, Ghana and is expected to attract 200-300 delegates from Africa, UK and globally, including many leading researchers and policy-makers, to discuss current research, challenges, new developments and crucial issues on the topic of Sustainable Agriculture. The PACN Congress is our flagship annual event for the African chemical sciences community and consists of 3 days of lectures, discussions, exhibitions, posters and networking.  Abstract deadline 24th September.

http://www.rsc.org/events/detail/28432/pan-africa-chemistry-network-congress-2017-sustainable-agriculture-how-the-chemical-sciences-can-contribute-to-food-security-for-a-growing-population