RSC and Chemistry For Our Future

Intensive lobbying of government by the RSC over the proposed closure of university chemistry departments prompted the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to seek advice from HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) on this issue. 

In response, HEFCE commissioned a review of strategically important and vulnerable subjects (The Roberts Review).

On the advice of this report, HEFCE announced that it wished to work with specific subject communities, including chemistry, to help make them more sustainable.

HEFCE then invited members of the chemistry community to bid for £20-30m of funding over a 5-8 year period to support chemistry in higher education.

The RSC co-ordinated this proposal, securing £3.6M initial funding and Chemistry For Our Future was born.