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The European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN) held its General Assembly in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 27 to 29 April, together with the 19th Annual Meeting of the European Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Education Network (EC2E2N2).
During the event a Memorandum of Understanding between EuCheMS and ECTN (see EuCheMS newsletter May 2015) was signed by the presidents of the two associations, Francesco de Angelis (ECTN) and David Cole-Hamilton (EuCheMS). Also, Pavel Drasar (Czech Chemical Society) was elected the new President of ECTN, following de Angelis, who becomes vice-president. Thirdly, the ECTN held a joint session with their partner agencies ASIIN (Germany), UKA (Poland), the Italian Chemical Society and ANECA (Spain) for the award of Eurolabels. The General Assembly was also the occasion for five new working groups of ECTN to begin work.
The EC2E2N2 project is coming to the end of its three year funding period. After 19 years of continuous funding from the European Commission Erasmus programme, there will be no opportunity to apply for further funding. The project has created seven working groups dealing with a wide range of topics, e. g. sustainable entrepreneurship, the impact of chemistry on everyday life and virtual education. All groups will be making their final reports before the end of 2015.
Anthony Smith, General Secretary ECTN
<a href="mailto:anthony.smith@cpe.fr">anthony.smith@cpe.fr</a>, <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.ec2e2n.net" target="_blank">www.ec2e2n.net</a></ext-link>


<h2>EuCheMS and ENMIX</h2>
At the EuCheMS General Assembly 2014, the European Nanoporous Materials Institute of Excellence (ENMIX) was approved to become a supporting member of EuCheMS.
ENMIX is a non-profit organisation arising from the EU-FP 6 Network of Excellence ”In situ study and development of nanoporous materials”. ENMIX was an appropriate measure to secure the established contacts and constitutes an attractive platform for research organisations, governmental bodies and industry. It acts as a unique and international competence and knowledge center for research and consultation in the field of nanoporous materials. Application of nanoporous materials can play a pivotal role in solving problems such as increasing energy demand, limited fossil feedstocks, global warming and environmental pollution. The strength of ENMIX lies in the integrated approach covering all fields from the synthesis and characterization of materials to their final application. Another objective of ENMIX is to strengthen European industry and to contribute to its global competitiveness.
Elias Klemm and Venceslav Kaucic, ENMIX
<a href="mailto:elias.klemm@itc.uni-stuttgart.de">elias.klemm@itc.uni-stuttgart.de</a>
<a href="mailto:venceslav.kaucic@ki.si">venceslav.kaucic@ki.si</a>
<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.enmix.org" target="_blank">www.enmix.org</a></ext-link>
Evonik and EYCN cooperate
The European Young Chemists' Network (EYCN) signed a three-year cooperation agreement with Evonik Industries at the 10th Delegate Assembly in Berlin in April. The agreement provides travel grants and internships for members of EYCN while allowing Evonik Industries to present itself to young scientists as an employer in EYCN's media activities. This agreement between European academics and industrialists is a rather new experience. EuCheMS President David Cole-Hamilton says: ”This will set an example for others and create good opportunities to promote exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience. It is the first agreement of its kind, but we hope not the last.” EuCheMS is confident that this and future similar agreements will represent a positive channel of communication between academia and industry. kjs/EuCheMS


<h2>Policy News</h2>
Round table on science policy
Ulrich Schubert, EuCheMS Vice-President, participated in a round table on ”Influencing EU science policy” at the European Physical Society Council 2015. Schubert spoke about how EuCheMS provides policy input through workshops organised for EU officials and Members of European Parliament.
(Re)searching for jobs
The event ”(Re)searching for jobs”, organised by EuCheMS in Brussels on 2 June, brought together academia, industry, policy-makers and citizens to discuss the many barriers that young researchers face when entering the labour market. After the opening words of MEP Catherine Stihler, EuCheMS President David Cole-Hamilton provided his view on how universities can embed transferable skills in their courses and allow young students and researchers to make the best out of their degrees. Following presentations by invited speakers many questions arose from the audience on how to develop further the quality of curricula and teaching.
Changes to Juncker Plan
There is encouraging news regarding the reallocation of Horizon 2020 Funds to a European Investment Fund, the so-called Juncker Plan. Following pressure from the scientific community, amongst others from EuCheMS, and other negative feedback, the European Commission presented a new proposal safeguarding funding for ERC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and the programme ”Spreading excellence and widening participation”, even though cuts will be made to the budget. The proposal will still have to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
EuCheMS, <a href="mailto:secretariat@euchems.eu">secretariat@euchems.eu</a>

ECTN General Assembly in Ljubljana

The European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN) held its General Assembly in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 27 to 29 April, together with the 19th Annual Meeting of the European Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Education Network (EC2E2N2). During the event a Memorandum of Understanding between EuCheMS...

Margaret Franklin was elected President of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland for a period of two years. Margaret Franklin obtained her Master of Science at University College Dublin. In 1975 she took up a lecturing position at Athlone Regional Technical College (now Athlone Institute of Technology, AIT). She retired from her position as senior lecturer in inorganic chemistry in 2009 and concentrated in the work for the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. She was elected vice-president in 2013. During her time at AIT, she had a major input into the development of the chemistry programmes and helped to establish the Eurachem Analytical Measurement Competition, which is a contest in laboratory skills open to undergraduate chemistry students in Ireland.
Christina Valanidou was elected President of Pancyprian Union of Chemists. Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, she studied chemistry at the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens. She received her Master of Science at the Albany State University, New York, and her PhD on Pedagogy at Patra's University in Greece. For several years she worked as a teacher and principal of school in Cyprus. As cultural attaché and counsellor she was the representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Cyprus in the EU in Brussels. Christina Valanidou is a member of various social, academic, political and trade union bodies and has worked in youth, students and women's organisations.
Luísa Margarida Martins was elected President of the Portuguese Electrochemical Society. She graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1990 and received her PhD in Chemistry in 1996, both at the Technical University of Lisbon. In 1996 she was appointed as adjunct professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon and is also the vice-president of this department. Luísa Margarida Martins has been a researcher at the University of Lisbon since 1992. She is author of more than 75 peer-reviewed papers and over 150 conference presentations.


<h2>HCS: Sarkadi re-elected</h2>
At the General Assembly of the Hungarian Chemical Society (HCS) in Budapest on 15 May the general election was held. At the beginning Attila Kovács, General Secretary, summarized the achievements in the last four years: Sixty percent increase in the membership of young chemists (age 35 or below) is significant progress as a result of the efforts taken towards the younger generation. Livia Simon Sarkadi (Corvinus University of Budapest) was re-elected as President of HCS for the term 2015 to 2019. István Pálinkó (University of Szeged) follows Attila Kovács as General Secretary, and Csaba Szántay jr. (Gedeon Richter Ltd.) and Tamás Kiss (University of Szeged) will act as vice-presidents. The General Assembly was closed by an award ceremony.
Ágota Tóth, <a href="mailto:atoth@chem.u-szeged.hu">atoth@chem.u-szeged.hu</a>
The twelve awardees of the IUPAC 2015 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering have now been revealed. The awardees have been selected based on excellence in basic or applied research, distinguished accomplishments in teaching or education, or demonstrated leadership or managerial excellence in the chemical sciences.
EuCheMS congratulates all the awardees and is very pleased to see that EuCheMS supported nominees have received the award. The award ceremony took place during the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Busan, Korea, in August. A list of the awardees is published on the IUPAC website.
EuCheMS, <a href="mailto:secretariat@euchems.eu">secretariat@euchems.eu</a>
<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.iupac.org/news" target="_blank">www.iupac.org/news</a></ext-link>


<h2>Congratulations to twelve IUPAC distinguished women</h2>
The twelve awardees of the IUPAC 2015 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering have now been revealed. The awardees have been selected based on excellence in basic or applied research, distinguished accomplishments in teaching or education, or demonstrated leadership or managerial excellence in the chemical sciences.
EuCheMS congratulates all the awardees and is very pleased to see that EuCheMS supported nominees have received the award. The award ceremony took place during the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Busan, Korea, in August. A list of the awardees is published on the IUPAC website.
EuCheMS, <a href="mailto:secretariat@euchems.eu">secretariat@euchems.eu</a>
<a href="https://www.iupac.org/news" target="_blank">www.iupac.org/news</a>


<h2>Talking about energy</h2>
The Energy Science &amp; Technology International Conference and Exhibition (EST) took place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 20 to 22 May. Over 600 participants from all over the world attended the event. EST 2015 merged similar existing initiatives at the European level, such as the European Energy Conference (E2C) series, co-organised by EuCheMS since 2010. The key idea was to make a single big European event with the highest possible degree of multidisciplinarity — e. g. chemistry, physics, engineering, biology and other disciplines — in order to promote a tighter interaction between the academic and the industrial sector and to discuss both scientific and technological aspects of the ongoing energy transition.
Plenary lectures at EST 2015 were focused on key technological drivers of the energy mix transformation and on the decarbonisation of the energy system, in the light of the last IPCC report. A public evening lecture by Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Daimler and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, was attended by over 1000 people and outlined the future of car transportation.
Chemists gave a crucial contribution to the success of EST 2015, particularly in the area of photovoltaic and magnetic materials, hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells and biomass conversion.
Nicola Armaroli, <a href="mailto:nicola.armaroli@isof.cnr.it">nicola.armaroli@isof.cnr.it</a>
Prize to Malcolm L. H. Green
The first European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry was awarded to Malcolm L. H. Green, Emeritus Professor at Oxford University. This prize of 5000 Euro was created by the EuCheMS Division of Organometallic Chemistry and is to be awarded every two years for a single piece of outstanding work or for a body of outstanding work primarily done in Europe. The Prize ceremony and a lecture by the winner took place on the occasion of the 21st European Conference on Organometallic Chemistry in Bratislava in July. kjs/EuCheMS

ECTN General Assembly in Ljubljana

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