Recent Events

SACI2011 - January 2011

Professor David Phillips and Dr. Alejandra Palermo attended SACI2011 in Johannesburg South Africa in January 2011.

The conference enabled the local section committee members to meet both the President of the RSC and the Chairman of the PAN-African Congress.  The conference was a huge success for the RSC in that there was a lot of exposure through Local and International RSC involvement.

The Sci-Bono Emasondo Chemistry bus, sponsored by the RSC UK & South Africa North section in 2010, was on display to the delegates at the conference. The bus has great potential to reach out to communities which would otherwise not be able to conduct practical laboratory experiments.

National Expo for Young Scientists

The RSC South Africa (North) Section sponsor the Eskom National Science Expo for Young Scientists every year. The science projects, which have been nominated via schools, have passed through the Regional Provincial competitions, and are presented at the National Expo. The National Finals Programme runs for 3 days, with over 500 Eskom judges. There are over 550 projects presented at the National Expo, which are split into over 25 science categories.  

This year’s Expo was held at Pretoria University Campus. Dr Ian Bratt (Chairman) and Suzanne Finney (Secretary) of the local RSC Committee were the judges of the Chemistry projects for the “RSC Special Chemistry Awards”. High school students were interviewed, questioned rigorously, and their work scrutinised on their understanding of the project, with respect to chemistry, their presentation and report writing skills, and the innovation behind their projects.  

Three projects were awarded the top awards: 

“Vit C Content in Fruit”, presented by Margaret Mackecknie Grade 9 student from King’s School, Robin Hills, Johannesburg. Margaret investigated, extracted and determined the vitamin C content of different fruits, and identified the chemical composition of the compound in the fruits which enhanced the vitamin C. 

The 2009 Expo was yet again a highly successful event for schools, awarding students for their outstanding achievements. The RSC local section are proud to be a sponsor of this annual event, which recognises the importance of science as being instrumental to continued global advancement and sustainable development.

SACI Young Chemists Symposium

The Southern Gauteng section of the South African Chemical Institute held their annual Young Chemists symposium on 17th October.  This year’s event was hosted by North West University in Potchefstroom.  The symposium provides an opportunity for MSc and PhD students to present their research work to their peers.

There were seven presentations from three universities: The University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of the Witwatersrand and North West University NWU).  Unfortunately, this year there were no presentations from Pretoria University (UP) or from University of South Africa (UNISA) students.

As has become the custom in recent years, the Royal Society of Chemistry, South Africa (North) section once again sponsored the prizes for the event as well as supplying two of the three judges.  The Chairman of the section, Dr.Ian Bratt and the Secretary, Mrs Suzanne Finney (both from Impala Platinum Refineries) were on hand to assess the presentations along with SACI representative, Professor Rui Krause (UJ).  The master of ceremonies for the day was Professor Henning Krieg (NWU).

The adjudicators commented on the enthusiasm of the presenters, the amount of preparation which had gone into the presentations and the excellent knowledge of their subjects which was displayed.  They also provided some tips for improving the presentations the next time.  They concluded by praising the quality of the research work which is currently being undertaken in the various Chemistry Departments.    

After the presentations, which included the presentation of James Moir medals by SACI to the top Chemistry students, the presenters and large appreciative audience enjoyed refreshments provided by the hosts. 

October 2008

In October 2008 the current RSC President, Professor Garner & his wife Pam, visited South Africa. His visit was a fact finding trip which included visits to local schools, universities and industry. The industry visit was conducted at Impala Platinum Refineries in Springs, where RSC South Africa North committee members Ian Bratt (current Chairman of the local section) and Suzanne Finney (Secretary of the local section) work. Included on the visit was Mike Green (past Chairman of the local Section).

The trip to South Africa enabled the committee to present their extensive project work, and also allowed for an interactive dinner with the President, Committee members & their dedicated spouses.

October 2008

The RSC South Africa North Section and the South Africa Chemical Institute, who share a joint cooperation agreement, jointly sponsored the Young Chemists’ Symposium for the Gauteng region in October 2008. 

The University of Witwatersrand hosted the symposium. Several post-graduate, MSc and PhD students, presented their project papers. Dr Ian Bratt and Mrs Suzanne Finney, from the RSC local committee, were present to judge the presentations and award the top students, sponsored by the RSC.

March 2008 - AGM

After the local section’s AGM on 31 March 2008 RSC members and guests were entertained with a dinner presentation by John Lithgow on “Rubber: A South African Perspective”. John is the Marketing Manager for Karbochem; his talk will included uses of rubber, such as its role in golf ball technology!

March 2007

The Local Branch of the Royal Society of Chemistry based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has bought 10 copies of Cian Chiusoli and Peter Maitlis's book "Metal-catalysis in Industrial Organic Processes" for distribution to local Universities and as poster prizes at up and coming conferences. 

Catalysis is a major theme in South African Universities and this excellent book, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, provides an authoritative view of the subject by experts in the field. Additional copies will be given to the Universities of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein, and KwaZulu-Natal (based in Durban).

In the photograph are (from Left to right), Mike Laws (Section Treasurer), Ian Bratt (Section Committee Member), Jake Pressly (Section Committee Member), Neil Colville, Mike Green (Chairman), Suzanne Finney (Secretary) and Neville Reed.

March 2007

Neville Reed, during his recent visit to South Africa to sign the Royal Society of Chemistry/ South African Chemical Institute Collaboration Agreement, was invited to attend a Committee Meeting of the South African Northern Section, based in Johannesburg. He was able to see at first hand the work that was being carried out by the Group with specific emphasis on the promotion of Chemistry in local Schools and Universities. 

The meeting, itself, was held at the Sci-Bono Centre, the local science museum which itself is planning to launch a major Chemistry Exhibition later this year. Neville, pictured above with local committee members was presented with a book of South Africa Birds which it is hoped he will have the opportunity to use on a future visit. 

Pictured with Neville (left to right) are Mike Laws (Section Treasurer), Ian Bratt (Section Committee Member), Mike Green (Chairman), Suzanne Finney (Secretary) and Jake Pressly (Section Committee Member).