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Joliot-Curie Conference 2021

8 - 9 September 2021, United Kingdom


Introduction
The Royal Society of Chemistry is happy to announce this event will be moving online for 2021. 

Are you looking for an independent career in academic research?

Shape your future academic career in chemistry research.

The Joliot-Curie Conference is the annual must-attend event dedicated to supporting the aspirations of early career researchers, particularly those who are underrepresented in academia. 

This conference explores career topics that are relevant to everyone, and encourages open discussions on issues that can promote an inclusive culture and diversity in the workplace. 

With an exciting programme of workshops, one-to-one consultations, and keynote speeches from world-renowned experts, the Joliot-Curie Conference will enable you to: 
  • Find out more about academic research careers and the different ways you can access them 
  • Get information and support on issues affecting your career and progression in academic research 
  • Develop your communication skills and gain confidence when talking about and presenting your research 
  • Access support during the event through targeted group discussions and one-to-one sessions.

Funding proposal workshop

Success in an academic career depends very much on your talent and passion as a researcher. However, even the most talented and passionate individuals need funding to pursue their research and that can sometimes be very difficult to secure. We know from previous Joliot-Curie conferences that this is one area where early-career researchers could benefit from some expert help, so we are devoting most of the second day of the conference to issues around getting funded.  You’ll get the opportunity to listen to funding experts, who will speak from several different perspectives, and to ask questions.
 
Day 2 will offer delegates the opportunity to learn about writing a grant application through an interactive workshop to experience funding applications from both sides of the process using their own research ideas. The benefits of this exercise are threefold:
  • The opportunity to practise writing a funding proposal
  • Receive constructive feedback on your proposal from your peers in a safe environment
  • The opportunity to be an assessor, which will give you valuable insights into how proposals are selected.
Submissions are now closed, individuals who have submitted a proposal will be contacted with further information prior to the conference. 

Supporting inclusion and diversity

The Royal Society of Chemistry is proactive in ensuring all our activities to advance the chemical sciences are accessible and inclusive for a diverse community. 

We initiate new activities and projects that will improve the diversity of our community at all stages of the pipeline and we bring together evidence to inform how to make such improvements.
Speakers
Kelly Chibale (Keynote speaker), University of Cape Town, South Africa

Kelly Chibale is a full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he holds the Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery & Development. He is also a Full Member of the UCT Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine, a Tier 1 South Africa Research Chair in Drug Discovery, founding Director of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Drug Discovery & Development Research Unit at UCT and the Founder and Director of the UCT Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D).

Kelly obtained his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge in the UK (1989-1992). This was followed by postdoctoral stints at the University of Liverpool in the UK (1992-94) and at the Scripps Research Institute in the USA (1994-96). He was a Sandler Sabbatical Fellow at the University of California San Francisco (2002), a US Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2008) and a Visiting Professor at Pfizer in the UK (2008).

In 2018 Kelly was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders and in 2019 he was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African magazine.


Cecilia Fenech Brincat , Cranfield University, United Kingdom

I am the Research Development Manager within the Research & Innovation Office at Cranfield University. I have led the public sector pre-award research support team at Cranfield since 2015 when the office was set up. I also lead on researcher development across the institution, and have been responsible for developing and delivering researcher development initiatives across the institution. I am active within the Association for Research Management and Administrators where I form part of the Training and Development working group. I am also experienced in grant delivery and project management and spent a number of years as a researcher. I have a PhD in environmental analytical chemistry from Dublin City University (funded as part of a Marie Curie ITN) and an MSc and BSc (Hons) from the University of Malta.


Kathryn Gempf, Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom

Enthusiastic about encouraging communication and interaction with science in creative and comprehensive ways, following her degree specialising in chemistry from University of Durham, Kathryn joined Publishing Directorate of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She has experience in working as an editor handling peer review, copyediting, journal production and development, across the breadth of the RSC’s chemical sciences portfolio. Kathryn also organised and led the #RSCPoster twitter conference in 2019 and 2020. She is currently a Deputy Editor on the RSC’s open access team, responsible for growing portfolio of open access titles.
 
Twitter: @KGempf
 


Tanya Sheridan, Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom

Tanya joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2018. She heads up the RSC’s Policy and Evidence team, responsible for developing evidence-based policy positions to advise decision makers on how to help enable the chemical sciences community to make the world a better place as well as responding in an agile way to relevant emerging issues.
Tanya has extensive experience of making and implementing public policy. As a civil servant at the former Department of Trade and Industry and then the Department of Energy and Climate Change, she developed policy and advised Ministers on energy, employment law, European Union, small business and industry, with a largely economic policy focus.
Before joining the RSC, Tanya worked for Cambridgeshire County Council, leading economic development programmes and advising elected Councillors. She holds post-graduate degrees in European Studies and Business Administration.


Kate Madden, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Dr Kate Madden completed both her undergraduate degree with a year at AstraZeneca and her PhD with Professor Andy Whiting at Durham University, finishing in 2017. Following this, she took up postdoctoral positions at the University of Oxford with Professors Angie Russell and Kylie Vincent from 2017-2020. In July 2020, Kate joined Newcastle University as a Newcastle/Monash University Academic Track Fellow in Drug Discovery, where the group uses chemistry and biology to find new medicines for neurodegenerative disease.


Paul McGonigal, Durham University, United Kingdom

Dr Paul McGonigal is an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry at Durham University where he investigates new small-molecule motifs for functional materials by taking advantage of unusual interactions, reactivity, and dynamics. Prior to moving to Durham in 2015, he had complete undergraduate (MChem, 2007) and postgraduate (PhD, 2010) degrees at the University of Edinburgh, as well as postdoctoral periods at the ICIQ, Spain (2011–2012) and as a Fulbright Scholar at Northwestern University, USA (2012–2015). His group’s research has been recognised by the Molecules Young Investigator Award 2018.


Rebecca Melen, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom

Dr Rebecca Melen studied for her undergraduate and PhD degrees at the University of Cambridge, completing her PhD in 2012 with Prof. Wright. Following postdoctoral studies with Prof. Stephan in Toronto and with Prof. Gade in Heidelberg, she took up a position at Cardiff University in 2014, where she is now a Reader in inorganic chemistry. In 2018, she was awarded an EPSRC early career fellowship, and she is the recipient of the 2019 RSC Harrison Meldola Memorial Prize. Her research interests lie in main group chemistry and the applications of main group Lewis acids in synthesis and catalysis.
 


Alison Rodger, Macquarie University, Australia

Alison Rodger was born in Scotland, educated in England, New Zealand and Australia. She obtained a BSc with University Medal for theoretical chemistry, PhD and DSc from the University of Sydney. She was elected to a Beatrice Dale fellowship at Newnham College, Cambridge, and Unilever and Samuel and Violette Glasstone Fellowships at Oxford. She subsequently moved to the University of Warwick where she developed innovative Centres for cross-discipline Doctoral training. She has been Head of Chemistry at Warwick and Head of Molecular Sciences at Macquarie where she moved in 2017. She is passionate about leading all activities including teaching and her commitment to gender equity with foundational research. Her research focuses on developing spectroscopies to determine how the structure and arrangement of biomolecules impact their function. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the British Biophysical Society, and the Royal Australian Chemical Society. 
 


Daniel Smith , EPSRC UK, United Kingdom

Daniel Smith is the Head of Physical Sciences at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which is the national funder for EPS research, skills and infrastructure. Daniel, along with the wider physical sciences team, is responsible for setting the strategic vision for physical sciences research within EPSRC, working across UKRI, external stakeholders and the academic community to realise the UK Physical Sciences Powerhouse concept through enabling and building on discovery research. Having worked in various roles across the research councils, covering national policy pertaining to  Quantum Technologies & Robotics, the Natural Environment and EPSRC business engagement, Daniel brings broad perspective to one of EPSRC’s most underpinning themes. At the heart of the team’s approach is working to ensure a fair and equitable approach that enables all parts of the PS ecosystem to flourish.


Shiny Mathew, EPSRC UK, United Kingdom

Shiny Mathew joined the EPSRC Physical Sciences theme in April this year. She is responsible for the Chemical Biology, Synthetic Coordination Chemistry and Synthetic Supramolecular Chemistry research areas. Shiny is also the Physical Sciences contact for New Investigator Awards. Before going on her maternity leave last year, Shiny worked with the EPSRC Digital Economy theme looking after the Content Creation and Consumption portfolio. Shiny has a STEM background, and prior to joining EPSRC she completed her PhD in Chemistry at the EPSRC doctoral training centre for Advanced Characterisation of Materials.


  • Tom Welton OBE (chair) Imperial College London, United Kingdom
  • Helen Pain (chair) Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom

Registration
Registration is now closed 

This event is aimed at post-doctoral researchers in academia who aspire to establish an independent career in research. Numbers are limited for the event so ensure to book quickly to secure your place.

The 2019 Joliot-Curie Conference achieved a 100% Good – Excellent feedback rating from delegates based on their experience. Here’s what they said:

This was above my expectation and I felt I made a number of important connections for the future. The funding workshop was a real eye opener (in a good way) and will likely have a huge impact on how I write grant applications going forward.
2019 delegate

Registration includes:
  • Attendance at the virtual sessions
  • Attendance at the networking sessions
Registration fees are as follows (subject to VAT at the prevailing rate):
 
Type Cost
RSC Members* £20
Non Members** £25
Student RSC Members* £15
Student Non Members** £20

* If you are an Royal Society of Chemistry member and wish to register for this meeting, please select the member option on the online registration page. You will need to enter your membership number.

**For non-member registrants, affiliate membership of the Royal Society of Chemistry for 2022 is available, the affiliate membership application will be processed and commence once the registrant has attended the event. 
Programme

Main Programme 

A PDF of the full conference programme can be downloaded from the Downloads section at the top of the page.

Tips for networking 

The Career and Professional Development team at the Royal Society of Chemistry have provided a webinar that gives an overview of the importance of networking for your career, and provides some top tips, alongside guidance on getting the best out of the online conference platform. We recommend watching this ahead of the event on the virtual event platform.

2020 Webinar: Presenting your research

As part of the 2020 Joliot Curie program, this webinar focuses on how to present your research with our panel of guests:
Dr Petra Cameron MRSC, Senior Lecturer, University of Bath
Dr Danila Gasperini AMRSC, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Bath


This webinar is available to view throughout the conference on the virtual event platform.

Yourself as a role model 

8 September, 14:00 BST 
This facilitated group discussion will help you reflect on your career to date and identify the skills and experience you currently have which you can use to build an academic career. Information on group allocations will be sent following the close of registration. 

Funding workshops

9 September, 10:30 BST
This workshop will offer you the opportunity to learn about writing a grant application by experiencing funding applications from both sides of the process using pre-submitted research ideas from delegates.

 
Venue

United Kingdom

Contact information
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