Faraday Discussions

Faraday Discussions are unique international scientific conferences which focus on rapidly developing areas of Physical Chemistry. They have a special format in which papers are distributed to all participants in advance of the conference and almost all the meeting is devoted to discussion of the papers. In this way, any participant at the conference has the opportunity to make a major contribution, and the papers and discussion are published. We hope you will find these pages interesting and useful. We look forward to seeing you soon at one of our Faraday Discussions. 

Professor Colin D Bain 
Chair, Standing Committee on Conferences
Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry 

History of Faraday Discussions

The Faraday Division is particularly well known for its Faraday Discussions, which have formed the basis of the RSC's work from the very beginning. They are held each spring, summer and autumn, usually in the UK but sometimes overseas. 

Proofs of the 20-25 invited and contributed selected papers at each Discussion are circulated well before the meeting. Since each paper has been read in advance, the actual meeting is able to concentrate on genuine fruitful debate. The whole of the proceedings is subsequently published including submitted Discussion remarks which include those that 'the contributors said, or think they said or wished they had said'. Many of the Discussions have become landmarks in the development of Physical Chemistry. 

Interconnections

The Division traces its origins to 1903 when the Faraday Society was founded. In 1972 the Society relinquished its autonomy to become the Faraday Division of the Chemical Society, and subsequently the RSC, following a merger with the Society for Analytical Chemistry and the Royal Institute of Chemistry. The Division greatly values its interdisciplinary character, particularly its links with physicists and biophysicists, and the amalgamation has further strengthened the links with other chemists.. 

Much of our reputation stems from the appeal of its activities to a broad international audience. Our strong international membership has long reflected this and we are keen to promote a further strengthening of this influence on the Division's activities.

There are well established links with a number of our European counterparts, namely the Division de Chimie Physique of the Société Française de Chimie, the Deutsche Bunsen Gesellschaft in Germany and the Associazione Italiana di Chimica Fisica. Joint European meetings are now held annually and there are excellent international relationships worldwide both at Divisional and Specialist Interest Group level.