Networks Newsletter – June 2020
Dear colleague,Welcome to the June Networks Newsletter, our way to keep our member network committee members and representatives up to date with RSC activities, services and new initiatives.
This month’s Newsletter contains:
- Upcoming Deadlines
- Upcoming Events
- Spotlight: Public engagement – What now?
- Communications from across the RSC
09 June
11 June
12 June
15 June
23 June
25 June
01 July
07 July
09 July
13 July |
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04 June
04 June
10 June
11 June
16 June
18 June
24 June
02 July
10 July |
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| Spotlight: Public engagement – What now? |
What does public engagement look like during a global pandemic?This month Hassun El-Zafar, our Public Engagement Officer, talks to us about finding new, creative and pioneering ways to keep the spirit and impact of public engagement activities alive.Read the full article on the Networks Newsletter blog, and if you have any questions or suggestions for virtual or online public engagement activities please let Hassun know!Read Hassun’s blog article
| Communications from across the RSC |
Here are updates about events and activities from our Outreach, Careers, Events, International, and Research & Innovation teams, as well as the Chemists’ Community Fund and RSC Publishing.Advice on events that you are hosting or planning for 2020Last week Secretaries and Chairs received an email update on our plans and guidance in relation to UK office closures, events, and travel. This guidance reflects the most recent UK Government advice and responds to the queries and concerns we are hearing from our committee members and other volunteers, both within and outside the UK. In line with current UK guidelines, we have cancelled all physical events until the end of August, and we would encourage all member networks to postpone or cancel physical events from 1 September to 31 December if they cannot be moved online, in line with the approach we have taken for all staff-led events and the closure of Burlington House.Find out more on our Covid-19 support pageUpdated Trust Deeds for member networksMost of our committee Chairs should now have received the updated copies of the Trust Deed for your Local Section or Interest Group. The changes to the documents do not impact the purpose or operation of your committee or network. If your committee has not received a new document then we’re still working on it and will be in touch soon.
The review of RSC governance that took place a couple of years ago informed some changes to the By-laws resulting in a change in the numbering of all of the By-laws. The updated By-laws have been in place since the 2019 AGM. As the Trust Deeds refer to specific By-laws by number we needed to update them to ensure that the numbering was correct.New e-alert templates for member networksWe are delighted to announce new e-alert templates for Local Section, Interest Group and AD Region e-alerts!The Interest Group and Local Section templates have been designed to incorporate the new brand colours and will work with the social media avatars we shared with committees in May. The AD Region templates have been styled to coordinate with other Division communications.We have created a new e-alert request form to work with the new templates. You can download it using the button below or find it and our updated "How to write an e-alert" guide on the Useful Forms and Documents page.Download the new e-alert request form hereFor information: Launch of a review of the RSC DivisionsIn 2016 we undertook a Governance Review to ensure that our governance framework continued to be fit for purpose, and ensured the right level of support for strong stewardship and strategic planning for the future of the organisation. The Review recommended that the role of Divisions be reviewed to provide clarity of function and ensure the full potential of the Divisions is achieved.The Divisions Review will be managed by the governance office, with input from relevant internal staff via the establishment of a working group. An advisory group was formed in January 2020 to provide strategic guidance to staff throughout the review process. Group members are highly accomplished experts and leaders in our communities, able to offer high-quality, innovative advice and strategic thinking and evaluation.The advisory group will work to meet the following objectives:
- To define the purpose and function of the Divisions
- To define the relationship between Divisions, Interest Groups and other RSC networks
- To ensure staff fully understand the purpose and potential of divisions and can support them effectively
- To review the effectiveness of member engagement with the Divisions
- To review the management of any financial responsibilities held within the Divisions
A report will be prepared by the Division Review Advisory Group for the Member Communities Board, recommending opportunities for improvement, appropriate structural and operational changes and a timeframe for delivery. A survey will be performed later in the year to gather feedback on the current state of the Divisions.Latest issue of Analytical Matters now available onlineIn the latest issue of Analytical Matters, the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division Newsletter you will find information on:
- Division Council Elections
- CPD Resources including the latest AMC Technical Briefs
- Support for individuals, researchers, educators and businesses
- A virtual Schools’ Analyst Competition
Read the latest issue of Analytical Matters hereReminder – complete diversity data monitoring form by 12 JuneThe Royal Society of Chemistry is committed to improving inclusion and diversity in the chemical sciences. In order to provide a full and accurate analysis of our membership and activities, and to ensure we continue to provide the best possible offering to our community, we are improving our diversity data monitoring processes.
We kindly ask that you complete our diversity data monitoring form following the link below. The form is recommended by our Inclusion and Diversity Committee and aligns our diversity data collection with current best practices in order to collect robust and coherent diversity data. Collection of consistent diversity data will enable us to have a clear understanding of the diversity of our activities, allow us to publicly report collated and anonymised data, and provides evidence to underpin decision-making for future activities and actions.
The form has a maximum of 16 questions and should take less than 5 minutes to complete. We thank you for your time in providing your responses.Complete the survey by 12 June RSC Prizes and Awards – winner announcement coming soonWe’re announcing the winners of our 2020 Prizes and Awards on our website and on social media on Wednesday 24 June.
Visit www.rsc.org on the day to see a gallery of all our winners, and find out more on our individual profile pages – including photo galleries, a summary of their research, and a Q&A. Use the sharing buttons on the profile pages to celebrate your friends, family and colleagues by email and on social media.
Keep an eye out on our social media channels for videos and photos of our winners throughout the day. You can follow #RSCAwards on Twitter or visit our Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram pages.Our Outreach Fund remains open and welcome to applicationsOur Outreach Fund provides financial support to members, individuals and organisations in order to enable them to run chemistry-based public and schools engagement activities.We recognise that during this period the nature of projects and delivery mechanisms may need to be revised and that individuals and organisations may choose to use this period to either reflect and evaluate current activity or develop new initiatives.In response to this and the changing needs of the community we are have relaxed our restrictions to funding, in particular those costs associated with salary and freelancers fees. In addition, to lower barriers to funding we have increased the upper limit of the small grant scheme to £5,000 and are considering applications for small grants on a monthly basis, our next deadline is Monday 15 June. Visit our website for further details on applying during this period or get in touch with the team.Learn more about eligibility criteria and restrictions on our websiteThe RSC Careers Team – here to help in uncertain timesSome of you may be anxious about job stability, dealing with your career being on hold, or facing a redundancy situation. The RSC Careers Team is available to talk to members about their work, your professional development, or simply coping with an uncertain professional future. We are offering one-to-one career consultations by phone or video conference to Associates, Members and Fellows, so visit the Events page to book, or email careers@rsc.org to ask a question.Find out more about our services at www.rsc.org/careers, including these upcoming webinars:17 June – ChemCareers: An Introduction to Patents: What, when and how?07 July – Joliot-Curie webinar: Presenting Your Research09 July – ChemCareers: How to work with a recruitment agencyUpcoming online events from RSC PublishingRSC Desktop Seminar: Dr Russell CoxThursday 4 June 2020, 12:00 EST/ 17:00 BSTHosted by RSC Chemical Biology, join Dr Russell Cox, as he presents "Platforms for the generation and high-throughput screening of cyclic peptide libraries".Learn more about RSC Chemical Biology Desktop Seminars and register hereMeet the Editor Online: Organic and Biomolecular ChemistryThursday 11 June 2020, 11:30 BST / 16:00 ISTJoin Professor Santanu Mukherjee, IISc – Bangalore, and Associate Editor of OBC, and Dr. Katie Lim, Executive Editor of OBC, for a 2-part Meet the Editor Online webinar featuring key scientific and publishing insights into peer review.Register to meet the OBC editors by 10 June Meet the Editor Online: Effective communication with Journal editorsFriday 10 July 2020, 08:00 BST / 16:00 JSTJoin Professor Shu Seki, Kyoto University & Associate Editor, Materials Chemistry Frontiers and Dr. Wenjun Liu, Royal Society of Chemistry, Executive Editor, Materials Chemistry Frontiers for a Meet the Editor Online webinar sharing practical guidance that can help you establish efficient and clear dialogues with your editors.Register to meet the editors by 9 July
This Newsletter has been tailored to you, but the full version can be found on the Networks Newsletter blog. Please read the online version and get in touch with suggestions for what you would like included or feedback about what we've sent you!Send us your feedbackKind regards,
The Networks Team
Fiona, Aurora and Debbie
