As a charity, we are governed by our Board of Trustees who may appoint boards and committees and delegate such powers to them as it may think fit.
Our boards and committees are formed through elected representative members, who contribute to guiding and driving our strategies and activities. Find out more about them below and meet Trustees and Leadership Team, and view current vacancies and elections.
The Board of Trustees consists of up to 18 members. Nine Trustees are elected by the membership and up to nine are appointed by the Board itself, which includes the Honorary Treasurer and those who serve as the Chairs of the Boards. The normal term of office is four years.
The Board of Trustees is chaired by our President who serves two years as President-Elect, two years as President. Our members can contact the Governance team if they wish to view Board minutes.
The President, President-Elect and Honorary Treasurer are the Honorary Officers of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr Annette Doherty OBE HonFBPhS FRSC
President 2024-2026
Annette has 35 years of international experience working within the pharmaceutical sector, including at Warner-Lambert, Pfizer and most recently GSK where she was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Product Development and Clinical Supply. She has been directly involved in the research, development and launch of over thirty new medicines in respiratory, infectious diseases, cancer and inflammatory conditions.
She has a BSc in Chemistry (1982) and a PhD in Organic Synthesis (1985) from Imperial College London and has conducted postdoctoral research with a NATO fellowship at Ohio State University (1985-1987).
She is currently Senior Advisor at Frazier Life Sciences, a team investing in and building companies developing and commercializing novel therapeutics. She has served on the Boards of various research, educational and charitable organizations.
Annette currently holds various non-executive positions including at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Addenbrookes Hospital Charitable Trust (ACT), The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) charity and Member of the Tonbridge Grammar School Academy Trust. She has also recently been appointed as a Trustee of the St John Ambulance charity.
She has recently been elected as the next President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a charity focussing on education and research to advance the chemical sciences.
In 2009, Annette was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to the pharmaceutical sector.
Professor Robert Mokaya OBE FRSC FRS
President Elect, 2024-2026
Chair of Inclusion and Diversity Committee
Robert Mokaya received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Nairobi in 1988 and was awarded his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1992. Following a Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship in 1996.
Mokaya joined the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham as a lecturer in Materials Chemistry in 2000 and progressed to Professor of Materials Chemistry (2008) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement (2019 - 2024). In 2024 he moved to the role of Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Sheffield. He is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder (2017-2022). He was awarded OBE in 2022 for services to the Chemical Sciences and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2023.
Robert's research interests are on the design, synthesis and characterisation of new forms of sustainable porous materials and the study of their structure-property relations. The research involves exploring fundamentally new synthesis methods that are simpler, cheaper, and more efficient and offer valorisation routes to materials with optimised properties for targeted sustainable energy applications.
Claire Gallery-Strong CSci CChem FRSC
Honorary Treasurer, retires 2025
Claire Gallery-Strong has developed her chemistry career working across a variety of sectors including pharm, environmental and nuclear. Today, she is responsible for a national nuclear decommissioning waste programme, working for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Graduating from NUI Galway, Ireland, she moved to the UK to develop in the field of environmental chemistry. Following an interest in analytical chemistry, she studied an MSc at Kings College London in Forensic Science specialising in chromatography. She moved into pharma and having transitioned sector once, brought her chemistry skills into the nuclear sector.
Claire has developed her career through a broad spectrum of roles directing engineering project and programmes, introducing portfolio thinking and bringing her scientific understanding to solve problems and deliver change.
Claire is an active chemist, mentoring for MRSC and CChem candidates. She champions change in her sector and established a younger members network early in her career and more recently has led the way in founding womens networks. Her work in these areas have been recognised by awards.
Dr Stephen J Byard CSci CChem FRSC
Elected Trustee, retires 2027
Steve completed his post-graduate research in the Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Leeds, and has subsequently spent more than 34 years working in the pharmaceutical industry for global R&D organisations. He is currently a Principal Research Fellow at Quotient Sciences’ Alnwick site in the UK.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chartered Chemist, has held the position of Secretary for the Royal Society of Chemistry NMR Discussion Group for an extended period and was Chairperson of the Chemists’ Community Fund Committee for four years. He is a member of the Formulation Forum Committee of the Society of Chemical Industry.
Steve holds an honorary professorship in the Physics Department at the University of Warwick, visiting position at the University of Leeds and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Northumbria.
He has strong interests in physical and molecular characterisation for the optimisation of pharmaceutical products, with extensive involvement in the applications of solution/solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging.
Professor Edwin C Constable CChem FRSC CorrFRSE
Elected Trustee, retires 2027
Professor Edwin Constable was born in Edinburgh. He studied chemistry at Oxford, where he gained a B.A. and D.Phil. He moved to the University of Cambridge where he was a University Lecturer and Fellows of Robinson College in. He remained in Cambridge until he was appointed Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Basel. After a short period at the University of Birmingham (2000-2002), he returned to the University of Basel as Professor of Chemistry in 2002.
He has over 650 peer-reviewed publications and is highly cited (25,000 citations, h-index 79) with interests covering all aspects of chemistry and the communication of science.
Edwin held an ERC Advanced Grant, was Vice-President of the University of Basel and is currently Chairman of the Swiss Academies Expert Group on Research Integrity. He was recently honoured by being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Professor Aline Miller FRSC
Elected Trustee, retires 2027
Aline Miller is a Professor of Biomolecular Engineering and Associate Dean for Business Engagement and Innovation at The University of Manchester. She is a chemist by training having gained her BSc from Strathclyde University (1997) and her PhD in Polymer Chemistry from Durham University (2000).
She went onto hold a New Hall College Junior Research Fellowship in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University before joining Manchester as Lecturer in 2002 and was promoted to Professor in 2014. She took a three-year sabbatical (2018-21) to run Manchester BIOGEL Ltd as CEO.
Her research interests lie at the life-science interface with an emphasis on applying physical principles to mimic, manipulate and improve biomolecular self-assembly for material design and application.
Aline has a strong track record of raising funds and translating her academic research into the commercial and clinical setting through co-founding three spin-out companies. Her work has led to several awards including the 2008 the Royal Society of Chemistry MacroGroup UK Young Researchers Medal, the 2014 Philip Leverhulme Prize for Engineering and she was Finalist for the Great British Entrepreneur Award 2021.
She has been Treasurer of the Recent Appointees in Polymer Science Group (2002-2005), affiliated to RSC MacroGroup UK and also been Member (2008-18), Treasurer (2010-16) and then Chair (2017-19) of the Polymer Physics Group, which is a joint Interest Group between the Institute of Physics and the RSC.
Dr Mandy Cooke MRSC
Elected Trustee, retires 2025
Mandy Cooke graduated from Leicester University with a BSc in Chemistry and PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry before moving into the Pharmaceutical Industry, where she has worked for more than 30+ years.
During her career, she has worked in a broad range of strategic leadership roles across technical governance, product quality and regulatory affairs. She is currently a Senior Quality Director at GSK in an enterprise quality oversight position - leading key strategic quality programmes across the organisation.
She has extensive advocacy and governance experience both within her organisational roles and within pharmaceutical industry associations.
Whilst her work experience is much broader than her early University education, she acknowledges that this chemistry knowledge and sound scientific basis has supported her throughout her career – thus feeding her commitment to actively contribute to the role of the RSC in enabling its’ members to succeed in their chemistry education.
She is also an experienced change leader and passionate about enabling organisations achieve their strategic vision and continually improve.
Professor Richard Jackson CChem FRSC
Elected Trustee, retires 2025
Richard Jackson studied at the University of Cambridge, before undertaking postdoctoral work at the ETH Zurich. He started his independent career at the University of Newcastle, being promoted to Reader and then Professor in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
He moved to a Chair in Synthesis at the University of Sheffield, serving as Head of the Department of Chemistry for two terms. He recently retired from the University and is now emeritus Professor.
During his research career, he has published in the general area of synthetic organic chemistry, especially on the application of organometallic chemistry to the synthesis of amino acids, and more recently co-authored papers with theoretical chemists and biologists.
Richard was a member of the Review Group for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Subject Benchmark Statement in Chemistry, a member of the Chemistry Review Panel for the Higher Education Academy Physical Sciences Centre Review of the Student Learning Experience in Chemistry, and an elected member of the Standing Committee of Heads of Chemistry UK.
In Sheffield, he served on the University HR Committee, the Health and Safety Committee, and the University Finance Committee. He was as an elected member of the University of Sheffield Council, and Trustee.
Remya Norris CChem FRSC
Elected Trustee, retires 2025
Remya Norris is a biocidal product registration specialist at AkzoNobel. She has over 14 years’ experience in research and development within paints and coatings as well as previous experience in analytical and wider industrial settings. Remya has continued to be an active chemist, working with local and regional sections and other committees. She champions chemistry throughout academia and industry, carrying out talks and various forms of outreach. She has also founded twinning events between international and UK local sections with her work being recognised by the Inspirational Member award.
Professor Jeremy Sanders CBE FRSC FRS
Elected Trustee, retires 2025
Jeremy studied for his B.Sc. at Imperial College, London and for his PhD at the University of Cambridge. His research career has roamed across organic, inorganic, physical and biological chemistry, and currently involves trying to understand the polymorphism of nanocrystals created by mechanical grinding. His career at Cambridge included service as Head of Chemistry, then Head of Physical Sciences and finally as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) until his formal retirement in 2015. His responsibilities as PVC included the wellbeing of 11,000 staff, Energy and Sustainability, and relationships with local communities and authorities.
He is one of the “175 Faces” recognised by the RSC for his contributions to Equality and Diversity, and he continues to have national and international roles advocating for diversity and inclusion. He is a member of the Council of Imperial College, and Chair of Storey’s Field Community Trust, which is responsible for building community in the Eddington development in North West Cambridge.
Dr Alexander Reip CChem FRSC FIMMM
Appointed Trustee, retires 2027
Alex is an award-winning tech entrepreneur who divides his time between serving as CTO at Oxford nanoSystems Ltd, a nanotechnology company that develops innovative coatings for sectors including HVACR and Electrolysers. In this role, he successfully raised over £8.5m in equity and grant funding. Additionally, he holds a position at Brunel University as the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence, supporting the university’s hydrogen strategy and external engagement. Furthermore, Alex provides advisory services to startups in various sectors, such as nanotechnology, cleantech, biotech, and GenAI, aiding in their early-stage growth by ensuring investment readiness and developing their ongoing technology strategy.
Alex has a PhD in nanotechnology from Brunel University and over 15 years of experience in developing and commercialising advanced nanomaterials, He also serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Net Zero Technology Centre and the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Previously, Alex sat on the RSC Professional Standards Board from 2019 to 2023 and was the recipient of the 2019 RSC Rising Star in Industry Award.
Dr Rehana Sidat CSci CChem FRSC
Appointed Trustee, retires 2027
Rehana Sidat has over 25 years of experience based in the pharmaceutical industry at GSK. An experienced Senior Leader, with a unique blend of applied experience that unites business understanding together with equitable people focus. She has a breadth and depth of experience and is known for her collaboration and influence at the C-suite level. Rehana is authentic and has sharp business acumen with proven expertise in transforming teams and leading business change across diverse disciplines. She has proven capability of building trusting partnerships to deliver strategic outcomes and is highly experienced at pragmatically managing conflict and issues objectively with an unphased approach to challenging situations and is known for her inclusiveness, courage and delivery.
Rehana’s achievements include being a recipient of the 2023 INvolve Empower Role Model List – Top 100 Executives, receiving the Top 10 Influential Muslim in Healthcare Award from Equity X 2022, and the GSK Inspirational Role Model Award 2021.
Jonathan Oxley CChem FRSC CMgr FCMI
Appointed Trustee, Chair of Member Communities Board, retires 2026
Jonathan Oxley graduated from Heriot Watt University with a degree in Chemistry, joining BP for a career of 24 years, latterly across the sustainable energy sector, including a secondment to the Energy Technologies Institute where he co-led a bioenergy project to underpin 2008 UK Climate Act. Jonathan was most recently at the World Energy Council, where he led their member, government and institutional engagement.
A Chartered Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Chartered Management Institute, Jonathan has a passion for sustainability in business and for engaging communities in a common endeavour. He is a Tallow Chandler gold medal winner, and was previously a member of the NERC Innovation Advisory Board.
Professor David M Smith CChem FRSC
Appointed Trustee, Chair of Professional Standards Board, retires 2026
David Smith took up his first independent academic position at the University of Exeter, where alongside his developing interests in high-resolution spectroscopy, he began to take on first departmental and then institutional leadership roles in education.
He moved to the University of Bristol on the closure of the Chemistry department in Exeter to become the manager of the Bristol ChemLabS Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. He has subsequently taken on more significant leadership roles, including as Deputy Head of the School of Chemistry.
As Education Director, he was responsible for undergraduate and taught postgraduate education for the Faculty of Science including the development and implementation of the University educational strategy, ensuring academic standards, and supporting students, as well as leading several institution-wide educational enhancement projects.
David has recently moved to Swansea University to become Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
He is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. He is passionate about widening participation and ensuring equality of opportunity in higher education—from outreach at all levels, through developing new opportunities for students, such as degree apprenticeships and a new foundation programme, to supporting students from traditionally underrepresented groups to achieve their potential and close attainment gaps.
Professor Magda Titirici FRSC
Appointed Trustee, Chair of Publishing Board, retires 2028
Magda is currently Professor of Sustainable Energy Materials and a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies
Following her Habilitation at the University of Potsdam/Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Magda Titirici joined Queen Mary University of London in 2013 as a Reader and was promoted to Professor in 2014. She moved to Imperial College London in 2019.
Research in the Titirici group focusses on the design and fundamental understanding of sustainable materials for applications in energy storage and conversion from batteries beyond Li-ion to electrocatalysis for clean fuels, chemicals and electricity.
Magda has published over 350 papers, and her research has been recognised by several important awards including the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize in 2018, The Royal Society Kavli Medal and lecture in 2021, The IOM3 Griffith Medal & Prize in 2021 and the President Medal for Excellent Research team from Imperial in 2023.
She leads a large multidisciplinary and diverse research team and is an advocate for equality, inclusion and diversity in STEM collaborating with many organizations on this subject.
Our Leadership Team manages the implementation and operational delivery of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s agreed strategy and programmes of activity by promoting leadership and direction and works closely with Council to ensure we are governed effectively.
Dr Helen Pain MBE CSci CChem FRSC, Chief Executive Officer
Helen is a Chartered Chemist and a Chartered Scientist, with a PhD in coordination chemistry from the University of Exeter. During her thirty-year career with us, she has developed an extensive knowledge of the chemical science community across both education and industry, and has led high-profile international campaigns to address inclusion and diversity in science and the role of the chemical sciences in tackling global challenges.
Helen was appointed CEO of the RSC in 2021 and continues to be an influential advocate for the role that the chemical science community plays in making the world a better place through her leadership of an international publishing business and professional body. She is an appointed member of the Executive Board for the European Chemical Society (EuChemS).
From 2018 - 2021, Helen was Chair of the Science Council, a UK organisation for the advancement of the science profession. During this time, she led an extensive change programme to embed a new strategy. She has also chaired a sector-led group of influential organisations and overseen a significant programme, funded by the Gatsby Foundation, to increase the visibility and professional recognition of technicians in higher education. In 2020, Helen was invited to join the UK National Policy Commission looking at the future technical skills’ needs of UK higher education. This led to the establishment of the Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS) funded by Research England. Helen is now the inaugural chair of the ITSS advisory board.
In January 2024, Helen was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours for her services to science.
Paul Lewis FRSA, FInstLM, Chief Operating Officer
Paul joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2018. As COO, Paul provides leadership to cross-organisational operations in accordance with our strategy, budget and business plans to ensure that organisational goals and objectives are met. He leads the organisation’s publishing, technology and sales & marketing activities as well as overseeing our global operations including the Estates and Facilities teams.
Paul has a wider organisational leadership role representing the RSC in the UK and internationally and is the designated deputy to the CEO. A qualified teacher with an MBA, he has substantial senior leadership experience in the educational assessment, adult training and, STM sectors with specialist Government-to-Government consulting and, international operating expertise.
Rebekah Ayres, Director of People and Culture
Rebekah joined the RSC in 2022 following a career focused on enabling organisations to improve performance through organisation development and design, the leadership of large scale and complex change, and the delivery of excellent services.
She has previously worked with a wide range of private and public sector organisations, most recently focused on developing capability-based operating models and transforming structures, processes, and cultures in senior roles across a number of UK Government departments. She is passionate about working with people to inspire ambitious change and create great places to work.
Rebekah is a proud Liverpudlian, now living in Central London.
Jo Reynolds FRSC, Director of Science and Communities
Jo joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2017, having previously been responsible for developing and evaluating Cancer Research UK’s first five-year research strategy. She also led a programme of change across their UK network of centres and transformed their brand and engagement with the research community.
She has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.
Sarah Robertson MSc, Director of Commercial Innovation
Following a career in scientific and educational publishing, most recently with Oxford University Press, Sarah joined the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015 in the new post of Director of Education.
She is committed to understanding the needs of teachers and learners, and to supporting the development of science education, from primary through to further and higher education. Sarah has an MSc from Imperial College London and lives in Gloucestershire.
Amanda Spencer PhD, Director of Technology
Amanda joined the RSC in January 2020. She was formerly CIO and Director of IT, Library and Technical Services, at the Royal College of Art, where she was responsible for a broad portfolio which included digital transformation. Prior to that, Amanda held a number of roles at the National Archives, including leading Digital and Digital Archiving programmes with Central Government, so brings a wide range of experience in strategy, operational delivery, stakeholder engagement and workforce development.
Emma Wilson MRSC, Director of Publishing
Emma has more than 15 years’ experience working in the scholarly publishing sector. She has worked for both commercial and not-for-profit publishers in a variety of editorial and business development roles, joining the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2006 as a Journal Publisher.
Prior to her career in publishing, Emma was the recipient of an EMBO research fellowship after obtaining her PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University.
Elizabeth Woods, Director of Customer Experience and Marketing
Liz joined the RSC in 2024, having spent over fifteen years transforming capabilities and driving sustainable revenue growth in roles leading marketing, brand, experience and customer-centred business change. She is highly experienced in strategy development and execution; translating data-driven customer, market and business insights into more impactful, effective decision making.
Liz leads our Customer directorate, which includes data science and insight, experience, marketing, and creative services. She holds a BA in Mandarin Chinese and Business Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She gained her MBA from Cranfield School of Management, where she was the 2023 recipient of the Odger’s Prize and the Tasman Cup.
Yusuf Firat, Interim Finance Director
Yusuf joined the Royal Society of Chemistry as Interim Finance Director in June 2024, bringing expertise across finance, property, procurement, IT, HR and governance. He has led various projects in different organisations, ranging from, long-term business planning, system implementation, commercial operations, fundraising, value for money exercises, to mergers and acquisitions.
He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a Cranfield School of Management alumni. Yusuf is passionate about fostering collaboration and social justice, and a strong advocate of equality, diversity and inclusion. With over two decades of board-level experience, including interim positions across diverse sectors, Yusuf brings leadership experience from executive and non-executive perspectives.
Our trustees would like the members serving on our governance bodies to represent the breadth and diversity of the chemical sciences, with reference to industrial and academic backgrounds, geographical spread, gender, ethnicity, and age range.
The diagram below illustrates all of the RSC committees which feed into the Board of Trustees. See our committees section and sub-committees section (under Boards and committees tab) for more details.
Following our 2024 elections managed by Mi-Voice our newly elected members to Boards, Committee and Community Councils were announced at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Annual General Meeting held on Monday 1 July 2024.
RSC President
- Robert Mokaya OBE FRSC FRS
Elected member of the Member Communities Board
- Laura Yates CChem MRSC - Local Section representative
- Natércia das Neves Rodrigues Lopes MRSC - Early Careers representative
- Helen Ryder MRSC - Interest Group representative
Elected member of the Professional Standards Board
- Christopher Hooper MRSC
President of the Dalton Community
- Claire Carmalt CChem FRSC
President of the Organic Chemistry Community
-
AnneMarie O’Donoghue MRSC
Elected member of the Analytical Science Community Council
- Stefaniya Velichkova AMRSC
- Yi-Lun Ying MRSC
Elected member of the Chemistry Biology Interface Community Council
- Anna Barnard MRSC
- Helen Chappell MRSC
Elected Member of the Dalton Community Council
- James Coverdale CChem MRSC
- Sunil Krishnan FRSC
Elected member of the Education Community Council
- Joanna Haywood MRSC
- Andrea Mallaburn CChem MRSC
Elected member of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy Community Council
- Andrew Chiffey CChem FRSC
- Chidinma Tennison-Omovoh MRSC
Elected member of the Faraday Community for Physical Chemistry
- Jeremy Frey CChem FRSC
- Yi-Tao Long FRSC
Elected member of the Materials Chemistry Community Council
- Clare Hoskins CSci FRSC
- Shivani Pandya MRSC
Elected member of the Organic Chemistry Community Council
- Maria Paz Muñoz-Herranz MRSC
- Joelle Prunet MRSC
Governance review
Our trustees’ most important role is to steward the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 177-year heritage and to plan for an even more successful future. This is why our Board of Trustees – called our Council – accepted the recommendations of our recent governance review led by our president, Professor Sir John Holman. Some of these recommendations involve changing elements of the membership of Council.
In making these changes we will gain even better expertise, planning and decision-making abilities, which will enable our community to continue to grow and succeed.
Good governance in charities is fundamental to their success. A charity is best placed to achieve its ambitions and aims if it has effective governance and the right leadership structures. Skilled and capable trustees will help a charity attract resources and put them to best use. Good governance enables and supports a charity’s compliance with relevant legislation and regulation. It also promotes attitudes and a culture where everything works towards fulfilling the charity’s vision.
(Charity Governance Code 2017)
Background
Our president, Professor Sir John Holman, initiated in 2016 a review of our governance to clarify the role of the trustees, the structure and membership of Council (Board of Trustees), boards and committees and the effectiveness of the relationship with the executive.
Working with our staff, members and external specialists, and to standards and frameworks of sector best practice, the review identified that there is capacity for improvement of aspects of our governance, including:
- the purpose and function of the boards
- the skills mix required from trustees to effectively discharge their legal and financial responsibilities
- a culture that facilitates high-level strategic conversations, effective self-evaluation and inclusivity across the governance structure
- the governance schedule and a realistic view of volunteer commitment
- the nominations and elections process
[We want to ensure] an organisation that is fit for chemistry in the 21st century, and the diverse community within which it operates – and to enable the Royal Society of Chemistry to respond to that community and its changing needs.
Proposed changes
Council approved 25 recommendations for changes to our governance structures and processes. Three of these – specifically those related to the make-up of Council – require changes to our by-laws. These are:
- The role of honorary treasurer will become appointed from within the membership rather than elected from within the membership. (Due to the complex nature of this role, the associated skills-set and significant time commitment, there are often no nominees for election to the role of Honorary Treasurer and the position has to be filled by appointment. By formalising this practice, we can ensure that candidates continue to have the appropriate skills-set and understanding of the time commitment demanded by this role).
- At the end of their term of office, the president will step down as a trustee (allowing the president-elect to serve a two-year term of office before becoming president for two years).
- Up to three non-Royal Society of Chemistry members may be appointed as trustees (to ensure flexibility in finding an appropriate collective skills base of our trustees).
We will present these proposals at our Annual General Meeting in 2018 and, if passed by voting members, to the Privy Council for approval.
The remaining recommendations propose operational changes, such as the structure of our boards and committees, and working practices for Council, boards and committees. Council have already accepted these changes and we will implement them after the AGM in 2018.
Council has approved the following governance framework, which we will implement from July 2018:
Through this framework of boards and committees, we will ensure that we meet our legal and financial responsibilities and that we develop our strategic aims and objectives with recognition of the diversity of our activities, the sectors we operate in, and the communities we engage with.
These boards and committees will be supported by a number of sub-committees and working groups with responsibility for a specific task (such as the Admissions Committee, Benevolent Fund Grants Committee etc).
We will also be creating a Strategic Advisory Forum, intended to provide advice to Council, from a global perspective, on how the chemical sciences are likely to develop over the next 10-20 years and what issues and opportunities Council (as well as boards and staff) might need to take into consideration in developing and implementing our strategy.
Contact for further info: Gemma Wood
Leadership Team
- Email:
- Send us an email
Governance Team
- Email:
- Send us an email
Contact a Trustee
- Email:
- Send us an email
Governance Co-ordinator
- Tel:
- 020 7440 3341
- Email:
- Hilary Beckett
Contact the membership team
- Tel:
- +44 (0) 1223 432141
- Email:
- Membership