Networks Newsletter January 2019
Dear all,Welcome to the first edition of the Networks Newsletter for 2019 and happy International Year of the Periodic Table! This month we have a special update about Royal Society of Chemistry activities for the International Year of the Periodic Table from Gemma Wood and an update about the RSC Publishing Author Experience Project from Journals Operations Manager Steve Wilkes.This month’s Newsletter contains:
- Upcoming Administration Deadlines
- Upcoming Events
- International Year of the Periodic Table – RSC activities and events
- Member Network Updates
- Communications from across the RSC
Upcoming Administration Deadlines8 January Deadline for E-alerts going out on 17 January to additional networks10 January Deadline for E-alerts going out on 17 January14 January Deadline for IYPT Grant applications15 January Close of nominations for 2019 RSC Prizes and Awards29 January Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 February to additional networks31 January Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 February31 January Deadline for March Chemistry World inserts9 February Deadline for member network financial reports12 February Deadline for E-alerts going out on 21 February to additional networks14 February Deadline for E-alerts going out on 21 February25 February Deadline for member network Annual Reports
Upcoming Events29 January Launch of the International Year of the Periodic Table31 January Retirement in Sight Workshop18-20 February Hot-electron science and microscopic processes in plasmonics and catalysis Faraday Discussion5 March 2019 RSC Twitter Poster Conference25-27 March Artificial photosynthesis Faraday Discussion
International Year of the Periodic Table – RSC activities and eventsA longer version of this article is available as a separate Networks blog article. Please contact Gemma and Anna at outreach@rsc.org with any comments or questions.We’re excited to be leading the UK chemistry community’s contribution to the international IYPT celebrations headed by IUPAC and have a range of activities and initiatives lined up to celebrate this year.We’re sponsoring the official IUPAC IYPT opening ceremony in January 2019 where our CEO, Dr Robert Parker will be giving one of the opening addresses. Throughout the year we’ll be hosting several activities including:
- A periodic table themed exhibition in Burlington House, curated by Dr Peter Wothers (Cambridge University)
- A series of high profile periodic table themed public lectures to be held across the UK
- Joint public outreach activities including lectures and demonstrations and hosted in collaboration with other professional bodies and relevant partners
- An IUPAC global women’s breakfast event hosted by our President, Dame Carol Robinson to showcase the RSC’s commitment to supporting women in the chemical sciences
- A strand of policy work focussing on research and communication to inform public engagement and member activities on resource efficiency and scarcity of elements
- Dedicated periodic table themed content in Chemistry World including guest editorials and dedicated monthly content focussing on element discovery
These activities represent just some of the work that is happening centrally to celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table. We’ll be updating you on specific events via the Networks Newsletter, Voice and Update and further information can be found online here: www.rsc.org/IYPTOur new Public Engagement Officer, Anna Aldred, has recently joined the Member Communities team to support our IYPT activities and will be in touch in the near future with additional information. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to email outreach@rsc.org if you have any questions.
Member Network UpdatesMember Network Conference outputsA summary of discussions and sessions from this year’s Member Networks Conference in Liverpool is available on the Useful Forms and Documents page.The Diversity team have also published some Guides for networks to support member networks.IYPT promotional materials in the Brand CentreThere are now promotional items branded with the ‘Celebrating International year of the periodic table’ logo available in the Brand Centre and we would encourage these to be used through 2019. If you have any questions or would like any further information please contact caps@rsc.org.More information about the Brand Centre – including a user guide and FAQs – can be found on our Useful Forms and Documents page.Chemists’ Community Fund now in the Brand CentreMembers can now order Chemists’ Community Fund leaflets and postcards from the Brand Centre to help promote the Fund and its services within your community. The newly launched postcards contain information on: Advice Services and Legal Information, Careers and Employment, Coping with Bereavement, Financial Support and Information, Health and Wellbeing and Support From Local Members, whereas the leaflet contains general information.
Communications from across the RSCOutreach community – call for expressions of interest We want to support our members who are involved and interested in Outreach and are looking to get your views on what this could look like. If you would be interested in being a part of this community then get in touch with us by Thursday 31 January by going to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CFZCY6D.Any RSC member who has an interest in science outreach is invited to register their interest using the above web link to be kept informed of updates and will be able to help support us to shape what an RSC outreach community could look like. Please also pass this on to members who you feel would be interested but may not have heard about it. Volunteer recognition Over 2000 members volunteer their time to support our initiatives, from sitting on committees to going out into the community and delivering outreach. We want to make sure that we are recognising our volunteers for what they do and are keen to hear from all of our community on how we could do this better. Whether you are an RSC volunteer or not we would love to hear your thoughts on recognition and would like to invite you to complete a short survey that can help us ensure that our volunteers are appreciated at all levels. To share your opinion please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3YNQXJV by Thursday 31 January.RSC Publishing Author Experience Project – call for user testing and focus groupsThe Author Experience (AX) project is a multi-year strategic initiative, being run by the RSC to address challenges our authors face from new Open Access initiatives (e.g., cOAlition S), piracy sites and questions about the industry business model. In an Open Access world, our customers are not institutions subscribing to our journals, but instead it’s the author paying us money in the form of the Article Processing Charge (APC). And those individual authors are used to the customer service and online experience of the likes of Apple, Google and Amazon.We have started a six month pilot, aiming to move the needle on some key metrics in our flagship journal, Chemical Science. Between November 2018 and April 2019, the pilot team have an ambitious roadmap to address the length of time submission takes (currently an average of 1h 49min) and the volume of status enquiries (by providing visibility of where the article is in the publishing process). We’ll also be centralising other customer interactions for Chemical Science so that we can improve visibility and data collection on author pain-points. Then, through the bigger AX project, we will tackle frustrations through the whole publishing journey taking an Agile, iterative approach to development that directly relates to our AX project vision to deliver a “researcher-led publishing experience through services that simplify and enhance the communication of the chemical sciences”.We’ve started taking prototypes of our ideas out to real academics for their feedback; any member interested in participating in the AX project through user testing or focus groups can contact Steve Wilkes at ax@rsc.org.2019 RSC Twitter Poster Conference (#RSCPoster)
#RSCPoster is back! An online event held entirely over Twitter, #RSCPoster brings members of the scientific research community together to share their research, network and engage in scientific debate. The 2019 RSC Twitter Poster Conference will be live for 24 hours, beginning 09:00 GMT Tuesday 5 March 2019.Find out more and get involved at rsc.li/rsc-poster-2019 or contact RSCPoster@rsc.org. Thinking about your career goals for 2019? It’s always a good time to think about developing your skills or planning your career. Our career management team are here to support you and your career, wherever it may take you. Our qualified Career Specialists will be visiting Sheffield, Oxford, Swansea, Nottingham, Belfast, Bath, Dundee, Aberdeen and Brighton during spring 2019. Book online now or email the team to arrange a remote appointment or find out how we can support you. 2019 ChemCareers webinar programme launchedThis year we are covering a wide range of topics starting with our teacher scholar scheme on 16 January. We will also be looking at careers in science policy, how you can meet each Chartered Chemist attribute, how to develop your teaching career, transitioning from Academia and managing your profession development. This year promises to be an exciting year. See the full programme and register for our free webinar series now.
Thank you for reading the RSC Networks Newsletter blog; please encourage other members of your committee to read the Newsletter online.We will be making changes to the Networks Newsletter in the coming months and we welcome any feedback or suggestions you have for content or format; please email any suggestions to networks@rsc.org.Kind regards,The Networks Team
Fiona, Aurora & Becky
