Networks Newsletter – April 2020
Dear colleague,Welcome to the Networks Newsletter, our way to keep our member network committee members and representatives up to date with RSC activities, services and new initiatives.Firstly, we would like to thank all of you for your support and effort during the current crisis, and encourage all of you to please abide by your local guidelines and stay safe. You may know that the RSC offices have close as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that the Networks team are all working from home for the time being. Please know that we are still available by email and phone and are working hard to support you during these uncertain times. This month’s Newsletter contains:
- Upcoming Deadlines
- Upcoming Events
- Spotlight: Public engagement – Co-create, co-create, co-create
- Communications from across the RSC
- Latest updates on our policy work
01 April
06 April
07 April
09 April
28 April
30 April
12 May
14 May |
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Deadline for Local Section and Interest Group Top-Up Fund applications
Deadline for the first round of the 2020 Inclusion and Diversity Fund
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 16 April to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 16 April
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 May to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 May
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 21 May to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 21 May |
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02 April
16 April
07 May
21 May |
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Member e-alerts
Member e-alerts
Member e-alerts
Member e-alerts |
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| Spotlight: Public engagement – Co-create, co-create, co-create |
What is "public engagement"? What works? What doesn't?This month Hassun El-Zafar, our Public Engagement Officer, talks to us about how letting your audience into the planning process can greatly improve the impact of your public engagement activities.Read the full article on the Networks Newsletter blog, and if you have any questions or suggestions for public engagement activities please let Hassun know!Read Hassun's article about co-creating public engagement activites
| 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.Important notice to all of our members on the potential impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19)If current events are having a negative financial impact on you, your partner or dependants – especially if they have led to changes in your regular income – please speak to the Chemists’ Community Fund, the benevolent fund for RSC members.While we recognise that the support we can offer will be limited, we may be able to offer financial support to you and your family as a Royal Society of Chemistry member. The Fund offers a completely confidential service.If you know of any other members who might be interested in our support, please do share the below contact details with them.Please get in touch by phoning +44 (0)1223 432227, or by emailing us at ccfund@rsc.org.Learn more about the support available from the Chemists' Community Fund2020 Member Networks Conference cancelledThe Member Networks Conference, due to be held in July 2020, will no longer be taking place.In light of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, all RSC events until the end of June 2020 have been cancelled. Due to the uncertainty of how this situation will unfold over the coming months we have now taken the decision to also cancel the conference and focus our time on developing other ways in which we can facilitate you to connect and learn from each other, and to provide you with resources, information and support.To help us to explore the opportunities to achieve this, we still welcome your input on the content and discussion topics that are most important to you, and encourage you to forward suggestions of virtual or digital training resources that we can develop.Send your discussion topics and training suggestions to the Networks teamThe 2020 #RSCPoster Twitter Conference was phenomenalThe 2020 #RSCPoster Twitter Conference, our biggest and most global instalment to date.
During the 24 hour event, 795 registered poster presenters from 59 countries shared their work with 4700 conference attendees (accounts that used the hashtag). Scientific discussions among presenters and attendees at every career stage took place via over 9900 tweets, with #RSCPoster receiving 32.1 million impressions from the global chemistry community and beyond.
Whatever their research, however they worked, #RSCPoster 2020 united the global scientific community and was a conference with clear advantages.Search #RSCPoster on Twitter tomorrow and join in!Find out more at rsc.li/rsc-poster-2020Inclusion and Diversity Fund open all yearOur Inclusion and Diversity Fund provides financial support for innovative products, activities and research projects that help make the chemical sciences community more inclusive and diverse.Previous recipients of our funding have included projects related to gender, disability, socio-economic background, language, BAME scientists and the LGBT+ community. These have been delivered via initiatives such as data collection and analysis, workshops, conferences and hackathons.We will consider individual applications up to the value of £5,000. Funding greater than £5,000 may be considered for one project each year. Please contact the diversity team for more details.Applications remain open all year, our first 2020 application round deadline is 6th April.Apply by 6 April to get a decision by 1 MayLooking to speak with a professional development adviser?Our upcoming physical career events and face-to-face consultations have been postponed but many are now taking place online. Please visit the Events page to book, or email careers@rsc.org to book a consultation or ask the Careers team a question.2020 Schools’ Analyst Competition cancelledAll upcoming regional heats and the Final of the 2020 Schools Analyst Competition have been cancelled.
If any current heat winners or regional hosts have incurred any costs (that are not refundable from the supplier) an appropriate full claim can be made. Please contact John Dean for a claim form.
The competition will once again run in 2021.First articles published in RSC Chemical BiologyRSC Chemical Biology, our new gold open access journal for breakthrough findings in the chemical biology field has been launched and we’re excited to share with you the first published articles, hot off the press. Subjects include:
- Antibiotic biosynthesis
- Antifungal targets
- Inhibition of the receptor-mediated signaling
Among the first articles being published in RSC Chemical Biology, one has transparent peer review.Learn about benefits of transparent peer-review hereRead RSC Medicinal Chemistry’s first articlesA few months ago we announced MedChemComm was changing its name to RSC Medicinal Chemistry to better reflect the breadth of content we publish.
Now we’re delighted to share the first issues of RSC Medicinal Chemistry with you!Read the latest issue now
| Latest updates on our policy work |
With a programme of activities spanning research funding, mobility of scientists, open access, chemicals regulation, teacher supply, curriculum and much more, our goal is to shape the development of policy relevant to the chemical sciences.RSC response to the UK BudgetWe responded to the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak's first Budget announcement on 11 March.The Chancellor rightly focussed on responding to the COVID-19 outbreak, pledging £30m for rapid research into the disease. We were also pleased to see the government commit to investing £22 billion in research and development by 2024-25. However, we were disappointed to see that the government’s promises on research and development were not backed up by commitments to support the education pipeline that will produce the researchers of tomorrow. Read our full response
This Newsletter is sent as a tailored email to all members of member network committees. The full version is published here each month. Please get in touch with suggestions for what you would like included or feedback about what we've sent you!Kind regards,
The Networks Team
Fiona, Aurora and Debbie
