Tēnā koutou,
Tēnā koutou kātoa,
It’s not too long until we will be meeting at our two major conferences:
- ChemEd-BioLive is coming up in Pōneke Wellington (13-15 November), focussing on chemistry (and biology) education, co-organised by SCENZ
- NZIC 2024 will be held in Ōtepoti Dunedin (24-28 November), organised by the Otago Branch and covering multidisciplinary areas of research, industrial chemistry and education.
May you all enjoy the chance to connect, collaborate and be inspired. Thanks to the organisers of both conferences for all their hard work pulling together the programmes, organising speakers and events and setting up the logistics. They are shaping up to be excellent conferences.
NZIC and RACI (the Royal Australian Chemical Institute) are looking at generating an MoU to formalise and extend ongoing positive relationships between our neighbouring institutes. We already have an arrangement that supports reciprocal member rates at our conferences and are looking to build more connectivity between our early-career chemists.
In really positive news, four NZIC secondary school student members recently competed at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All came away with medals: congratulations to Daniel Xian (St Kentigern College, silver medal), Seivin Kim (Avondale College, bronze medal), Alexandre Geron (St Kentigern College, bronze medal) and Ena Yin (St Cuthbert’s College, bronze medal) for this fantastic achievement! You can read about this exciting event, including excerpts from the medallists’ reports, in this issue of Chemistry in New Zealand. Thanks to the NZ Chemistry Olympiad Trust for all the work Board members invest, helping the next generation of brilliant scientists to extend their knowledge and thrive through this valuable initiative. Special mention to Jan Giffney, Marie- Anne Thelen, Owen Curnow and Jack Chen for facilitating the successes of the NZ Chemistry Olympiad team.
NZIC has joined the Save Science Coalition, which comprises a group of organisations who are concerned about the recent systemic job losses across the sector and the concurrent reduction in financial support for science. Chemists and our discipline of chemistry are facing many challenges in the current economic situation. The Save Science Coalition aims to oppose the ongoing cuts across the public science system, document what is being lost through these cuts, advocate for indigenous research, and call for 2% of GDP to be invested in research and development. These broadly align with NZIC priorities and uphold our members, encouraging our involvement in this group.
Thanks for your continued support of NZIC and best wishes for the completion of your year.
Joanne Harvey
NZIC President 2023–2024
