New Series of Science Cafés about the IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry

From 2019, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announces every year a list of Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry that are expected to have a huge impact in our lives by contributing to the well-being of society and the sustainability of our planet. These technologies are intended to help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as defined by the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The IYCN is organizing a series of talks entitled "IYCN Science Café" that puts the focus on the IUPAC 2021 Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry. The IYCN Science Café, which will tackle some of the emerging technologies in chemistry, will be a bimonthly live 1-hour session split into a 30 min talk plus 30 min Q&A session aiming to answer the curiosities and questions raised by the audience. We aim to cover one emerging technology per Science Café by inviting an experienced scientist on the topic.

The first event will be held on July 1st at 5:00 PM CEST and will count on Prof. Javier García Martínez, President of IUPAC, who will introduce and contextualize the aims of the yearly released Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry, highlight how this initiative started, how the technologies are selected and by whom, and answer any questions you may have.

Curious about this project and willing to learn more about this IUPAC initiative? Join us on July 1st!

The link to register free of charge for this event is the following: https://bit.ly/IYCN_CAFE_01

Stay tuned!

Kind regards,

Fatima Mustafa

On behalf of the organizing committee,

Silvi Di Pietro, Walid Heiba, Tracy Lau, Fatima Mustafa, João Borges

The IYCN Panel @ IUPAC GWB: The Importance of Allies Networks to Promote Gender Equality in Science

The Global Women’s Breakfast (GWB) is an annual event organized by IUPAC to celebrate the accomplishments of Women in Science and inspire younger generations to pursue careers in science, as well as to promote gender equality in science. In fact, the term “event” is misleading, because the GWB is much more. It is an umbrella event for a multitude of independently organized events all around the world, aiding the same objective with different ideas and approaches. Of course, the IYCN did not miss out on this unique opportunity to contribute and engage early-career chemists in such an important discussion, and organized its own event.

Since the IYCN is a truly global organization, the breakfast was in fact a breakfast for the Americas, lunch for Europe, and afternoon tea/dinner for Asia and Oceania. We invited four speakers for an engaging online panel discussion under the topic "A Global Exchange: The Importance of Allies Networks to Promote Gender Equality in Science": Dr. Bettina Mihalyi-Schneider, Dean of Academic Affairs for Chemical and Process Engineer at the Technical University of Vienna (Austria) and Chair of the University’s bottom-up women’s network FemChem; Dr. Frances Separovic, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne (Australia) and President of the Biophysical Society; Dr. Hooi-Ling Lee, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia) and Senior Contributor at the IYCN; and Dr. Javier García Martínez, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Alicante (Spain) and President of IUPAC.

With the theme of the panel discussion, the IYCN aimed at highlighting the importance of every single person in (and outside of) science to overcome the barriers to gender equality, irrespectively on the race, gender, ethnicity, age, position, natural origin, disability, socio-economic status, to name just a few. We wanted to explore approaches towards meaningful engagement of a wide variety of people globally in furthering gender equality. After a brief introductory statement from all panelists about their personal experiences with allies, the panel and audience engaged in a fruitful live discussion on the topic, addressing several questions, including: Is diversity a fashion? How can we encourage champions for the cause and discourage people who block it? Should we compromise? Can we find allies in diverse areas and how can we be inspired and increase this trend towards promoting gender equality in science? Do we have to address policy or culture to reach gender equality? How can allies help counteract biases? What are the important trades of an ally?

We were also fortunate enough to count on the active participation of Dr. Mary Garson, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of Queensland (Australia) and Co-Chair of the IUPAC’s GWB, who kindly joined the panel after having already attended a full day of breakfasts and shared her take on the subject and inspiring anecdotes with us.

Have you become curious about the details of our panel discussion? Then we have good news for you: the event has been recorded and is available at the IYCN YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/IYCN_GWB_2022.

We are looking forward to your visit and hope to see you at our GWB next year! Stay curious and engage in the discussion to drive change!

Written by Dr. Katharina Ehrmann, Treasurer of the IYCN

The IYCN Conference Presence and ISL Committee leaders attended The ACS Leadership Institute

The meeting is an annual invitation-only conference. ACS local section, divisional, younger chemists and student chapter leaders meet to receive both management and leadership skills. It also aims to foster networking, identify key contacts, learn best practices and volunteer roles in the leadership positions within the society. The in-person weekend event was held in Atlanta, USA, on May 20-22, 2022 and was attended by around 250 participants. Merchandising materials of the IYCN were distributed. The picture below is with colleagues from the Eastern US YCC Partnership.

Photo: (L-R) Fatima Mustafa (Conference presence committee lead) and Arish Naim (International Society Committee Liaison).

Photo: ( L-R): Megan Chambers, Maria Camila Aguilera, Cristian Aviles-Martin, Ashley Tubbs, Fatima Mustafa, Julian Bobb

By Fatima Mustafa