Early-career chemists connect at our Younger Members Symposium

Early-career chemists from all areas of academia and industry converged at the University of Birmingham on June 24 for the third biennial Royal Society of Chemistry Younger Members Symposium (YMS2014).

Organised by Younger Members from the East and West Midlands, with the support from YMN representatives from across the UK, the event was the best attended YMS yet. More than 200 Younger Members from ten countries attended the one-day interdisciplinary conference, where they had the chance to hear and talk about chemical research, outreach and education in four parallel sessions. This mixture proved popular, with one delegate saying that it “was fantastic to see a conference combining cutting edge research and outreach in an accessible, lively environment”.

Following keynote addresses by Lesley Yellowlees, our president at the time, and science communicator Jamie Gallagher, the attendees had a chance to hear talks from invited speakers representing emerging talent from both academia and industry. In addition, the early-career chemical scientists had a chance to share their research and form contacts with peers across disciplines through additional talks and a poster session. As one delegate explained: “the event really helped [me] to understand how to develop in the future”.

Various prizes were on offer, including an overall poster prize, which was supported by the European Young Chemist Network. The recipient was Victoria Greenacre from the University of Sussex for her work on the co-ordination chemistry of phosphoranylboranes.

Plans are already underway for the next YMS in Scotland in 2016. If you would like to get involved in the planning, please get in touch with us.