Tēnā koutou,
Greetings to all our members!
At time of writing, the NZIC Conference website has just gone live. We are hoping to see lots of our members and visitors at the conference in Ōtepoti Dunedin in November. Please find details, register and submit abstracts at https://www.ivvy.com.au/event/NZIC2024/home.html
I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to visit the regional branches over the past half year. It’s been fantastic to get together with members to learn about the excellent chemical science going on in our country, ponder on the state of the education system and catch up with friends (and make new acquaintances) after a few isolated years. Thank you all for your hospitality!
NZIC made a submission to the Science System Advisory Group led by Professor Sir Peter Gluckmann, which is considering the state and future of the science sector in NZ. We highlighted the importance of strong funding of fundamental science underpinning translational and applied research, leading to a thriving economy built on technology, having a long-term approach to science strategy and building a robust and healthy education system with excellence in STEM subjects. You can read our submission on our website. Many of our partner organisations and members’ institutions made excellent submissions too, all of which are publicly available.
NZIC hosted a webinar by John Jolliffe from the German consortium, NFDI4CHEM, in April. Dr Jolliffe spoke about the importance of data reliability, storage, verifiability and sharing mechanisms, which was thought-provoking and enlightening.
Many congratulations to Justin Hodgkiss, who was awarded fellowship of Royal Society Te Apārangi earlier this year. This accolade recognises Justin’s expertise in ultrafast spectroscopy and the advances he and his team have made in applying this science to a multitude of applications, from photovoltaics to understanding skin pigmentation. Please note that we are eager to support nominations of NZIC members in upcoming rounds.
Congratulations also to Sarah Masters, who was recently elected back onto the Executive Board of Commonwealth Chemistry for another three-year term. Commonwealth Chemistry is a consortium of chemical societies from countries of the Commonwealth. It holds an annual virtual poster event which is very beneficial for student networking globally and this year the dates are 11-12 September, so watch for further details.
Wishing you the very best this winter,
Joanne Harvey
NZIC President 2023–2024
