Dear Member,
 
Welcome to the January edition of the Networks Newsletter.
 
Advance Notice – RSC at Spring ACS
 
The RSC will once again be holding a reception for members and special guests at the Spring ACS meeting in San Diego.  Full details will appear in RSC News, in RSC GrapeVine and on the website.  The reception will be on Sunday 25^th March at one of the convention hotels from 17.00-18.30 so if you are travelling to San Diego make a diary note now and watch the website etc for registration details.
 
Any questions to Andrew Scott at the RSC:  scotta@rsc.org
 
Joint ChemComm–RSC Prizes and Awards Symposium in London
 
Date: Wednesday 22 February 2012
Location: Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, UK
Time: 1300-1800
 
We are delighted to announce the forthcoming ChemComm–RSC Prizes & Awards Symposium in association with the RSC Analytical Division. The purpose of this event is to bring together scientists in a stimulating and friendly environment to recognise the achievements of individuals in advancing the chemical sciences and also to foster collaborations. The symposium will appeal to academic and industrial scientists with an interest in analytical science, protein structure and interactions, and biosensors. Attendance at the symposium is FREE OF CHARGE and student participation is strongly encouraged.
 
The following distinguished scientists have agreed to speak:
 

• Dr Perdita Barran, University of Edinburgh, UK (ChemComm sponsored speaker) - talk title TBC
• Professor Carol V Robinson, University of Oxford, UK (RSC Interdisciplinary Prize winner) – Membrane protein complexes at last
• Professor Marius Clore, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, USA (RSC Centenary Prize winner) - Exploring sparsely-populated states of proteins and their complexes by paramagnetic and diamagnetic NMR
• Professor Albert Heck, Utrecht University, the Netherlands (ChemComm sponsored speaker) – talk title TBC
• Professor R Graham Cooks, Purdue University, USA (RSC Centenary Prize winner) – Mass spectrometry simplified:  ambient ionization and miniature mass spectrometers
• Professor Anthony P F Turner, Linköpings University, Sweden (RSC Theophilus Redwood Award winner) – Biosensors: Sense and Sensibility

 
For further details and to register your interest, please contact awards@rsc.org
 
 
The RSC Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication

The RSC Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication is designed to encourage and recognise clear science communication in schools and colleges.

The Bill Bryson Prize 2012 offers the chance to welcome the Olympics to the UK.  In support of this major event the 2012 competition theme will be "Science and Sport”.  The competition is open to students aged 5-18 and entries can be submitted in all formats, from posters to power points to puzzles! The best entries from each category will receive a cash prize of £500 for their institution, and £100 for the winning students to share and will be awarded at a prize-giving ceremony in London.

The closing date for entries is 31 March 2012.

www.rsc.org/billbrysonprize
 
New RSC journal-  Biomaterials Science.
 
The journal is a collaborative venture between RSC Publishing and the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University, Japan. Biomaterials Science will be a multidisciplinary journal covering the fundamental science of biomaterials and their biomedical applications. Norio Nakatsuji, Professor and Director at WPI Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University and Professor Phillip Messersmith from Northwestern University, USA have been appointed co-chairs of the journal. For more information read here [link to: http://blogs.rsc.org/rscpublishing/2012/01/13/new-journal-biomaterials-science/] or visit the journal’s website: www.rsc.org/biomaterialsscience. Submissions open March 2012.
 
RSC Corporate Partners
 
The successful RSC Partnership Programme has now been developed into the RSC Corporate Partner Programme.  This programme is open to organisations of any type across the world whether academic, educational, industrial, commercial or not-for -profit and offers a  clear and public association with the RSC together with a range of benefits such as discounts on membership, reduced rates on advertising, special rates on use of the chemistry centre in London and discounts on journals.  If the organisation you work for is already spending in excess of £3000 on journal subscriptions, membership, advertising etc it will be worth looking at the advantages of the RSC Corporate Partner Programme and the benefits of a very public association with the RSC.
 
For details see www.rsc.org/partners
 
Company Accreditation
 
The RSC has for some years been successfully accrediting company training schemes and have recently added BP, UCB Pharma and Nucleargraduates to this list. These schemes offer the employee a 'fast-track' route to the professional award of Chartered Chemist (CChem) while providing employers with the confidence that their training is of a recognised high standard. 
One of the major advantages of having a training scheme accredited is that employees can participate in a company training scheme and at the same time work towards the widely recognised professional qualification of Chartered Chemist.
Advantages to the employer include: 

• Aiding the recruitment and retention of high quality employees
• Cost efficient use of training resources - graduate trainees can be involved and meet as a group for some parts of the scheme
• Assurance that the outcomes of the training scheme meet the RSC's professional requirements for the award of CChem
• Assurance that the company's scheme stands comparison with good practice elsewhere.  

 
Advantages to the employees are that they are part of a group with common aims and interest, they receive continuous monitoring and support from the company through an experienced colleague who acts as a mentor, and they can advance to CChem in the shortest possible time. That is, CChem can be achieved after 4 years rather than the 5 years required through the RSC's normal application procedure.
The advantages to the RSC include the ability to set, monitor and maintain the professional standards for the award of CChem, and to gain a better understanding of the needs of employing organisations.
 
If you think your company may be interested in accreditation, please contact the RSC’s Professional Standards Specialist, Sarah Harrison: harrisons@rsc.org
 
Local Sections and Interest Groups
 
2012 Regional Meetings
 
The dates for this year’s Regional Meetings have been announced, more information on the Regional meetings can be found in the December edition of RSC News.
 

12 January	South East
19 January	Eastern
2 February	North East
16 February	Midlands
23 February	North West
28 February	Scotland
1 March	Ireland
13 March	Wales
15 March	South West

 
 
Deadline for Annual Accounts - 14^th February 2012
 
Local Sections and Interest Groups are required to submit audited accounts by 14^th February at the latest. Funds for 2012 will not be released to a Local Section or Interest Group until their 2011 accounts have been received.
 
2011 Annual Reports
 
The template for the 2011 annual reports, to be completed by all RSC member groups, has been sent to all RSC Local Section and Interest Group Secretaries. The purpose of these reports is to ensure that RSC staff are up to date with all member activities and to identify opportunities for us to better support RSC Groups in the future. The form is also available to download from the RSC website. http://www.rsc.org/Membership/Networking/InterestGroups/FormsDocuments.asp
 
The deadline for completed reports is 20^th February 2012. Completed reports should be sent to networks@rsc.org
 
Chemistry World Inserts
 
If you wish to add an insert to the March edition of Chemistry World, please note that the deadline to send print-ready Word documents is 30^th January. Up to 3 inserts can be included; they are single or double sided, black and white and printed on A4 paper. Please send your inserts to msadmin@rsc.org by 30^th January 2012 at the latest.
 
International Sections
 
Budget Proposals
 
International Section committees are requested to submit their budget proposal for 2012 as soon as possible, if not submitted already. This will allow for them to be processed and paid promptly.
 
 
RSC Events Deadlines



Major deadlines coming up – check out the individual websites for more details and all the key dates.
 

EVENT	DEADLINE
CPD Opportunities for Teachers of Chemistry Session 3: February 2012 Swansea, Cardiff & Pontypridd, UK	Registration deadlines fast approaching!
Tribology: FD156 2 - 4 April 2012 University of Southampton, UK	Poster abstract and early bird deadline: 3 February 2012
Challenges in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology (ISACS7) 12 - 15 June 2012 University of Edinburgh, UK	Oral abstracts deadline: 27 January 2012
Analytical Research Forum 2012 2 - 4 July 2012 Durham University, UK	Oral abstracts deadline: 3 February 2012
Challenges in Inorganic and Materials Chemistry (ISACS8) 19 - 22 July 2012 Toronto, Canada	Oral abstracts deadline: 24 February 2012