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RSC Networks Newsletter

These monthly newsletters aim to keep all member networks updated with news describing how to get involved, as well as information of relevant events, services and new initiatives from the RSC Networks team. If you require further information about any of the items in the newsletter, or have any comments or ideas for content please contact the Networks team.

Committee members and representatives are encouraged to disseminate this information, as appropriate, to colleagues and other members. E-alert request forms can be downloaded from the Useful Forms and Documents page. Up to date lists of members can be obtained by emailing the Networks Team.
 

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Archive for November, 2020
Public Engagement 5: Evaluate
In Hassun’s fifth and final blog article about public engagement, he explains why no project is complete without an honest and detailed evaluation to measure success. Share your thoughts with Hassun via email at zafarh@rsc.org or on Twitter @HassunElZafar.


Evaluation. That pesky word that rocks up when you think it’s all done and dusted. When you’ve seen done all the planning and delivery. When you’ve pitched the idea, achieved something phenomenal… When you just want to have a break. It pops up: Evaluation.

Let’s start with a simple question: Why do we evaluate?

Here’re the answers I came up with in 30 seconds:
  • Improve and inform our current and future practice
  • Demonstrate the impact of your activity
  • Show value for money
  • Secure funding
  • Meet the terms of funding providers
  • Have recorded evidence of your activity
  • Clearly understanding what success looks like

It’s important that evaluation is planned as an integral part of any public engagement activity, not as an add-on. This could be done by placing it into the core part of your delivery plan. This is an example of how this may look:

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I often find that our focus on successfully achieving our project outputs (delivery) overshadows our vision for the successful evaluation of our objectives. As mentioned in my previous blog articles, clear objectives (make them SMART!) really do help with not falling into this trap.

Let’s give a working example of how incorporating evaluation into every step of a project plan can improve a project.

 

Play

Scenario (as ever, this is not real, but applicable): We have a diverse group of chemistry researchers working on innovative and boundary pushing research on plastics in one of the UK’s top higher education institutions. The researchers are super keen to do more outreach, they don’t see it as an add-on – but a necessity.

Idea: The researchers have come up with an idea, to produce a video that is as concise as possible in explaining contemporary scientific research into plastics and celebrate the diversity of the team. They want to place the video onto the university webpage, use it at open days, school outreach programmes and summer society exhibitions.

 

Pause

Here’s where evaluation comes really handy. Let’s ask one of the above questions, and answer it using SMART methods:

Q) What does success look like?
  1. 2,000 primary aged students in the local area are engaged with reduce, reuse and recycle programmes ran by schools by the end of the academic year.
Now, let’s add… how we can measure that this has been achieved?
  1. Creating a survey that will be filled out by teachers capturing activity response, interviews with school head teacher on school actions and case study stories from students (via teacher-led focus groups).
 

Stop

Go back and look at the idea I presented to you, it’s not a bad idea – but now I’ve told you what I think success looks like, what I want to actually achieve, and how I plan to evaluate it… Is the idea the best way to achieve what I want to achieve?

Quick answer: No.

 

Rewind

I head back to working board; I need to come up with another idea… but this time, I’m going to inform myself using other people’s evaluations and by talking to my specific target audience (AKA primary schools) to see what works and what does not.

So after reading about excellent projects on websites like the NCCPE and having dialogues with experts and partners, I come up with another idea: To create resources for a project where primary schools are encouraged to collect every piece of plastic they use, while also using a specially designed and co-created tool kit to help them become plastic free.

At the end of the spring term, the schools are tasked with creating artwork with the plastics they have collected, alongside a scheme of work which has been co-created with teacher from those schools (by the way, this is not a full idea! It has flaws, I need to work on it, but hopefully you’ll see the point of it being a better idea, because of the evaluation thought process).

The art project attracts local media attention, which this boosts awareness of the programme – you should capture this, funders love local media attention.

The teachers fill out specifically designed questionnaires with questions on the co-creation process, timelines, resources and what worked well and what didn’t – you should also capture this, other teachers love to hear from other teachers.

The head teacher gives you an interview on how your resource has been applied in their school, the challenges they’ve faced, what they would do differently, and the value the programme has given students – capture this, it’s going to improve your project massively and, as for teachers, head teachers love to hear the thoughts of other head teachers.

With permission from the teachers, you capture group thoughts from the students – you can’t give them a survey, they’ll see it as work (the teachers told you that) so you’ve arranged for them to give their thoughts through a game of “pass the bean bag” – if you have the bean bag you tell us what you think of the plastics now you’ve done the project. They love it because it’s a great game, you asked the teacher to do this before the project too, so you can compare the answers.

 

Stop

I can go on, but I won’t. It goes without saying that the second idea is much more resource intensive – it’s going to take much more time and effort than simply making a video. But its impact… well, I think it’d much more significant.

If I did something like this, I’d target one school in a really underserved community, and do it well, and by doing it “well”, I mean having a solid evaluation of the project. If one school is too much, then try one class – less can mean more impact, more lessons for me and more legacy to my project.

It all goes back to one question: What does success look like?

Answer that question in the most detailed, and honest, way you can. Because that is going the measure to which you evaluate any project.

So the next time that pesky evaluation question comes up, think beyond the words “quantitative” and “qualitative”, dig deeper than just using questionnaires and survey forms: define success, set yourself an ambition, and keep evaluation in mind from the very start.



This is our fifth blog article from Hassun, you can read the others in the series here:
  1. Know Your Audience 
  2. Co-Create, Co-Create, Co-Create
  3. What now?
  4. Outputs ≠ Outcomes
more...
Posted by Aurora Walshe on Dec 1, 2020 11:00 AM GMT
Networks Newsletter - December 2020
Dear ​colleague,

Welcome to the December 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 – Evaluate
  • Communications from across the RSC
  • Latest updates on our policy work
 
Upcoming Deadlines
 
06 December
08 December
10 December
18 December
18 December
31 December
Registration deadline for RSC Inclusion and Diversity Forum 2020
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 17 December to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 17 December
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 January to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 7 January
Deadline for December Research Development Grant applications
 
Upcoming Events
 
01 December
03 December
04 December
08 December
08 December
09 December
15 December
15-16 December
17 December
07 January
20 January
21 January
Sharing scientific advances, 12:30 GMT
Member e-alerts
Using social media effectively, 12:30 GMT
Organising online social events, 12:00 GMT
RSC Inclusion and Diversity Forum 2020, 14:00 GMT
Interest Group Forum, 13:00 GMT
Virtual networking, 12:00 GMT
Royal Society of Chemistry Tokyo International Conference 2020
Member e-alerts
Member e-alerts
CChem relaunch: Skills and the economy, 10:00 GMT
Member e-alerts
 
Spotlight: Public engagement – Evaluate

In Hassun’s fifth and final blog article about public engagement, he explains why no project is complete without an honest and detailed evaluation to measure success.

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!

Learn the value of evaluation


 
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.


End of year e-alert deadlines

Do you want to send a wellbeing message to your members to celebrate the holiday season or welcome in the New Year? All e-alert deadlines are provided above - please note that with office closures all e-alert requests for Thursday 7 January must be received by Friday 18 December.

Download our guide for creating more effective e-alerts



Virtual discussion sessions for member networks

Following the cancellation of the 2020 Member Networks Conference we are running four online sessions to bring together RSC network committee members to share ideas and knowledge. This is an opportunity to hear from some networks who have been active during the pandemic and to share your own experiences.

Sharing scientific advances - Today, 12.30 – 13.30
The Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics Group and Downland Local Section will lead this session about sharing scientific advances online and will share their tips and tricks to set up and coordinate a virtual seminar series using GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting.

Register here

Using social media effectively – Friday 4 December 2020, 12.30 – 13.30
In this session we will hear from the Formulation Science & Technology and Porous Materials Groups who will share tips and tricks to start conversations on social media, engage your community through different platforms, and advice about hosting a Twitter conference.

Register here

Organising online social events – Tuesday 8 December 2020, 12.00 – 13.00
At the session we will hear from the East Anglia Local Section about their chocolate tasting event and the Lancaster and District Local Section will chat about their wine tasting event. Attendees will be encouraged to share ideas and knowledge with other members about online social events.

Register here

Virtual networking – Tuesday 15 December 2020, 12.00 -13.00
Join Dermot Hanna (Consultancy Group) and Magda Van Leeuwen (Royal Society of Chemistry) in discussing and sharing ideas on virtual networking. Dermot and Magda will discuss how we often associate networking with physical events but it can be key part of online events. They will look at some of the tools available to facilitate networking and share their experiences of running virtual networking events.

Register here

If you are unable to attend, please still register and submit your questions. We can send you a link to the recording afterwards.



Committee membership – Under 18s
We wanted to make you aware that we now have some members of the RSC who are under the age of 18 years old. While we hope to engage these members in attending suitable events and activities as part of their membership, we are not able to allow them to sit on our committees or to volunteer in any way. This is because this type of engagement with a minor takes us outside our normal core activities as a professional body, and our existing safeguarding processes and insurance would not cover this exceptional circumstance. These members should be notified of this upon admission to membership but we have recently amended our processes to ensure that they are not included in calls for nominations for committee positions.

If you have any questions about our safeguarding policy please do get in touch and one of our colleagues will be happy to respond.



Register by Dec 6 for the RSC Inclusion and Diversity Forum
Further diversifying chemistry – a focus on race inequality
8 December 2020, 14:00 GMT

Join us on 8 December for our virtual Inclusion and Diversity Forum, which this year will focus on race inequality in the chemical sciences and the role that each of us has to play to ensure a working culture that is more inclusive and fair to everyone.

Keynote lecturers will be Professor Christopher Jackson, Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu, Dr Yalinu Poya and Professor Robert Mokaya. We will also hear from current Inclusion and Diversity Fund grant holders to learn from their community-driven projects.

We want to hear from you! Our breakout discussions will explore retaining talent, evidence-based approaches, a welcoming community, champions and allies and taking a look back at 2020.

Register and see the full programme



Our 2021 prizes are now open for nominations
Do you know someone who deserves recognition for their work in the chemical sciences? What’s an amazing piece of science that you want to celebrate? Our prizes celebrate people who are making a positive impact and achieving great things.

Categories open for nomination are:
  • Research & Innovation Prizes: Celebrating exceptional people advancing the chemical sciences across industry and academia
  • Our new Horizon Prizes: Celebrating discoveries and innovations that push the boundaries of science
  • Inclusion & Diversity Prize: Celebrating people improving access and progression for all in the chemical sciences
  • Volunteer Recognition Prizes: Celebrating people who go above and beyond to form communities and support and inspire others.

This is your chance to tell the world about the amazing work that you, or someone you know, is doing to advance the chemical sciences. Who will you nominate?

Explore prizes and nominate



Planning your 2021 activities?
Have you thought about asking the Royal Society of Chemistry Careers team how they can support you in 2021?

The team are available to present or take part in panel discussions on a wide range of career-related topics such as job searching in your sector, identifying your transferable skills and CPD, developing leadership skills or can talk generally about the careers support available to Royal Society of Chemistry members. We can work with you to shape our support to your needs.

Drop us an email to find out more about how we can support you.

Find out more about what we do



Bullying - Support for You and How to Support Your Colleagues
This upcoming live webinar is to learn how to support a colleague if you witness bullying in the workplace, and support for you if you experience bullying. Prof Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Dr Laura Norton, Senior Programme Manager, Inclusion & Diversity, Royal Society of Chemistry will share resources, advice and support available from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Can't make it? The recording will be available via our YouTube channel after the live broadcast.

Register now for 2 December 12:30 GMT



Latest issue of Analytical Matters now available online
Find out about the latest Analytical Division activities including:
  • Ways to recognise excellence in analytical science through our Research & Innovation Prizes and new Horizon Prizes
  • Networking opportunities at our upcoming online events: Analytical Division Online Symposium and Measuring Cancer Earlier
  • Funding opportunities including new Researcher Development Grants
  • CPD Resources including the latest AMC Technical Briefs

If you have any items you wish to be included in the next newsletter please email analyticalmatters@rsc.org by 31 January 2021.

Read the newsletter



Sponsor the 2021 #RSCPoster Twitter Conference
#RSCPoster is the RSC’s flagship virtual event, pioneering the virtual conference field and bringing together the global chemistry community to network and share their research and engage in scientific debate.

In 2020 we attracted around 800 posters from 59 countries and reached a potential audience of over 32 million. The conference spans the chemical sciences, with participation from disciplines across the field of chemistry and at every career stage.

We’re currently looking for sponsors for the 2021 event – if any Interest Groups are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please email rscposter@rsc.org for more information.

Find out more about #RSCPoster at rsc.li/rsc-poster-2020


 
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.


School science technician workforce report
School science technicians are often overlooked as a profession. That’s why we – in partnership with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and with input from the Association for Science Education (ASE) – commissioned a piece of research analysing how the school science technician workforce in England has changed since 2011/12.

The report found that technician numbers are falling and pay and conditions are often unsatisfactory, and that schools with a less affluent pupil intake tend to have less technician support than those with a more affluent intake.

Read the report and our recommendations

 
Thank you for reading!

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 feedback


Kind regards,

The Networks Team
Fiona, Aurora and Debbie
 
Posted by Aurora Walshe on Dec 1, 2020 11:00 AM GMT
Networks Newsletter - November 2020
Dear Colleague,

Welcome to the November 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
  • Have you received the 2020 Annual Report form?
  • Communications from across the RSC
  • Latest updates on our policy work
 
Upcoming Deadlines
 
03 November
03 November
03 November
10 November
12 November
24 November
26 November
30 November
30 November
30 November
30 November
30 November
Registration deadline for Air quality in megacities Faraday Discussion
Deadline for 2020 Research Fund applications
Deadline for applications to the Research Enablement Grant
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 19 November to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 19 November
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 3 December to additional networks
Deadline for E-alerts going out on 3 December
Deadline for Local Section inserts into January Chemistry World
Deadline for 2021 Biomaterials Science Lectureship nominations
Deadline for 2021 Soft Matter Lectureship nominations
Deadline for 2020 EES Lectureship nominations
Deadline for November Research Development Grant applications
 
Upcoming Events
 
05 November
13 November
17 November
19 November
25 November
03 December
08 December
17 December
Member e-alerts
LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture, 15:30-16:30 GMT
Faraday Discussion: Air quality in megacities
Member e-alerts
Volunteering in Schools–best practice for RSC Members, 18:.30 GMT
Member e-alerts
RSC Inclusion and Diversity Forum 2020, 14:00 GMT
Member e-alerts
 
Have you received the 2020 Annual Report form?

As hard as it to believe, 2020 is almost over, meaning it is time to consider the 2020 Annual Report!

The Annual Report is a report on the activities of your committee during the past year. In line with the rules for member networks, all member networks must submit an Annual Report to the Networks team each year. The information from the reports is used by the Networks team to identify common challenges and opportunities for us to work on to support our networks. It is also used to report to the Member Communities Board (MCB) and as part of our formal charity reporting to demonstrate impact.

While we appreciate that many of you have had to cancel or postpone physical events in 2020, we still need every committee to submit a report. In fact, we would like you to include information about events that have been affected by the pandemic so that we can fully understand the impact of Covid-19 on member network activities.

We have sent the new 2020 Annual Report form to all member network Secretaries - if your network has not received the form please let us know!

The 2020 form is a protected Excel spreadsheet - please watch our short introduction video to see how to complete it, and if you have any questions please get in touch. All of your feedback and suggestions will go into updating the 2021 report form, which we will share with you in January.

 
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.


RSC Inclusion and Diversity Forum 2020
Further diversifying chemistry – a focus on race inequality
Friday 13 November 2020, 15:30-16:30 GMT

The Royal Society of Chemistry Inclusion and Diversity Forum 2020 will take place virtually on 8 December, with a focus on race inequality in the chemical sciences and the role that each of us has to play to ensure a working culture that is more inclusive and fair to everyone.

We will look at evidence of race inequality within the chemistry community, discuss the experiences behind the data, question the inclusivity of current systems and begin to investigate how to break down barriers. Our keynote lecturers will be Professor Christopher Jackson, Professor Ijeoma Uchegbu, Dr Yalinu Poya and Professor Robert Mokaya.

During this event, we will also present the new RSC Inclusion and Diversity Strategy to 2025 – Enabling Inclusive Access and Progression in the Chemical Sciences.

There will be the opportunity to hear from current Inclusion and Diversity Fund grant holders and learn from their community-driven projects that aim to address issues experienced by underrepresented groups in the chemical sciences.

Find out more and register


Skills, the economy and Chartered Chemists
Over the last 18 months, we have been engaged in a review of our Chartered Chemist (CChem) award. During the review, we focused on maintaining relevance of the CChem award now and for the future across all chemical science sectors in industry and academia, improving access for those in SMEs, education and members not based in the UK whilst upholding standards for all.

Please join us on Wednesday the 20th January for our key event celebrating the launch of our revised CChem award.

Discussions will be centred on the role that skills and skills development have across the chemical science sector, and the role that Chartered Chemist plays in supporting this. There will be opportunities for you to contribute to the discussions where we will encourage you to share your perspectives about skills in the chemical sciences.

We hope you can attend and help us make this the CChem event of the new year.

Learn more about the programme and register here


RSC Hardship Grants for non-RSC members
The RSC is currently offering one-off support grants to chemistry students and chemists who are not members of the RSC and whose financial situation has been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

We are offering one-off grants of up to £500 to chemists or up to £250 to those in full-time chemistry education or working as an apprentice.

To date we have been able to award in excess of 240 grants to those who were in urgent financial need.

We would be very grateful if you could help us make contact with chemistry students, postdocs and chemists, to encourage them to apply for these grants if they are in genuine financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19.

For any further information regarding this grant, please contact hardshipgrants@rsc.org

Royal Society of Chemistry members can contact the Chemists’ Community Fund directly by emailing us at ccf@rsc.org as we may be able to offer members an enhanced support package.


RSC Science Divisions Online Symposia

Join us for our free fortnightly online Symposia. You’ll hear about the latest research from our RSC Award Winners, alongside short talks from early career researchers and an opportunity to network online with colleagues.

Find out more and register here


LGBT+ inclusivity – Building a better chemistry culture

The sixth webinar in the Building a better chemistry culture series focuses on how the chemical sciences can best support and retain LGBT+ individuals. In advanced celebration of #LGBTSTEMDay, we will hear from LGBT+ scientists, who are also leaders in inclusion and diversity, to learn about the impact that being supported to bring one’s full self to work can have on scientific output and mental health.

BSL interpretation is provided by Rachael Dance, Cambridgeshire Deaf Association.

Learn more and register


Call for Content for Next Issue of Analytical Matters

Please let us know if you have any items that you would like included in the autumn issue of the Analytical Division newsletter, Analytical Matters.

Submit your content here


How to Volunteer in Schools: Best Practice for RSC Members

We’re continuing to host training sessions to support Royal Society of Chemistry members in the UK and Ireland who want to engage effectively with schools. The one-hour session will be delivered online and will include hints and tips on what to expect in the classroom, ideas of how to promote careers in chemistry to young people and next steps to put everything into practice.

Following feedback from previous successful events, these are repeats of these sessions. You only need to attend one event to obtain all the information.

Learn more and save the date here


CCF Support Members with Care Home Top Up Fees

The Chemists' Community Fund can consider help with care home top up fees for RSC members, their partner or dependants who are required to contribute to the amount the local council pays to better meet their personal care needs.
Please watch the video to find out how we can help and please do share within your local network, with any RSC member who may find this information useful.

Watch the video to find out how we can help


 
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.


Your views: Real Time REF Review

A new study led by RAND Europe and involving researchers from Cardiff University and the University of Sheffield will conduct a real time review of REF 2021, evaluating researchers’ perceptions of the assessment process while they are preparing and submitting their work.

This study provides the opportunity for researchers in UK universities to give their views on the REF process and help shape and improve it in the future. This work will be used by policy makers to inform proposals for research assessment after the completion of REF2021. We encourage all members who are undertaking research in a UK institution that takes part in the REF to take this opportunity to influence national policy development and ensure that the experiences of the chemical sciences are captured. The timetable for this work is in-line with REF 2021 reflecting the pause to the exercise as a result of COVID-19. The study is currently due to close in mid-November and can be completed here

Find out more about the study on the UKRI website, or click the link below to have your say.

Take your opportunity to influence national policy development

 
Thank you for reading!


This Newsletter is sent to all member network committee members as a tailored communication; this blog post contains all of the information sent out. 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 feedback


Kind regards,

The Networks Team
Fiona, Aurora and Debbie
 
Posted by Aurora Walshe on Nov 2, 2020 2:00 PM GMT