Member Networks Conference 2018
We hosted our first ever Member Networks Conference, attended by representatives from at least 15 different countries.
The conference took place in the Marriott City Centre Hotel in Liverpool at the end of October. Representatives from our local sections, international sections, and interest groups attended from around the world – from as near as Manchester and as far away as New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan.
Much of the work of the Royal Society of Chemistry is underpinned by a huge number of volunteers, many of whom serve on our committees. The conference served as an opportunity for members of these committees to come together, receive training and support, and share ideas. The conference took place over three days, and included workshops, discussion sessions, networking opportunities and a conference dinner.
Among the sessions were workshops on how to make events inclusive for everyone, how to publicise events in the press and on social media, and how to attract and retain volunteers. There were also dedicated sessions for each of the different types of committees – local sections, international sections and interest groups.
Dr Jóhannes Reynisson had travelled the furthest to be there – from New Zealand where he is treasurer of the New Zealand local section committee. Originally from Reykjavik, Iceland, he is shortly moving to the UK to take up a position at Keele University.
He said that the best thing about the event was the networking opportunities. "I’ve met lots of nice people, had some nice cooking and new ideas", he said. "I’ve also met up with the people where I’m moving to, so that’s been very helpful".
Dr John Brazier, from the University of Reading, was representing the Nucleic Acids Group. He said he was coming away with a number of ideas to take back to the group.
"One thing that has come out for me personally is the idea around transitions of members – the different stages they go through in their career. As an interest group, it helps to identify how many PhD students we have, how many postdocs and so on. Should we run a session or provide some literature about if you’re a postdoc in this field what should you be doing to get into an industrial position or an academic position?"
"We have people in the group right up to the very senior FRSCs and down to PhD students. You’ve got the whole wealth of experience, and we should tap into that and get people’s ideas."
Tabby Roberts, chair of the Mid-Wales local section, said the biggest eye-opener for her was seeing the different challenges that different sections face. "The difference between my section – which has a low membership and large geographical area – and places which are very small geographical locations but are really high in number of people."
At the conference dinner on the Tuesday night three of the winners of our Awards for Service and Inspirational Member Awards were presented with their medals. The other winners were recognised at our Summer Party in July of this year.
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