I’ve been working at the RSC for just over five months now and, although it may sound obvious, one of the main things that I’ve learned is just how much chemistry there is being researched.
Coming straight from doing an undergraduate chemistry degree in Dublin, my knowledge was limited mostly to textbooks, classic experiments or whatever random bits of research professors decided to throw into their lectures. When I joined the RSC as a publishing editor I was immediately introduced to the living, breathing, constantly evolving organism that is modern chemical research.
It’s fascinating to be involved in facilitating the publication of cutting edge science and working for
RSC Advances, a general chemistry journal, makes things even more interesting because sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely of places. In the past week alone I’ve seen papers on geckos, peanut oil and 19th century paintings.
Most of my work involves assisting peer review, where manuscripts are sent to authorities in the field to be evaluated. This is a process that, if you stop and think about it, is pretty impressive. A paper can be, for example, co-authored by Australian and Japanese chemists, peer reviewed by American and Brazilian experts and accepted by an Irish publishing editor working in Cambridge. It’s a truly global process and referees give freely of their time and expertise with the aim of advancing excellence in the chemical sciences – the overall vision of the RSC.
As well as being an interesting job, working at the RSC has been great because it’s helped to make settling into a new city easier. I moved from Ireland not knowing anyone in Cambridge but I’ve been able to make friends in work and have been involved in sports and social club activities like 5-a-side football and go-karting. Cambridge is a beautiful place to live and as well as the impressive buildings and colleges there’s a lot of green space, which myself and a few of my fellow publishing editors made the most of yesterday, beating a team of Italians in an impromptu football match. Advancing excellence in football as well!
Patrick is working as a Publishing Editor in the RSC Advances team, in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Publishing Department. To see if there are any current vacancies in Publishing click here.
I’ve been working at the RSC for just over five months now and, although it may sound obvious, one of the main things that I’ve learned is just how much chemistry there is being researched. 
