Synergy Grants

On 5 November, the European Research Council (ERC) announced that 34 projects have been awarded €350 million. In total, the ERC received more than 440 proposals for this Synergy Grants call. This grant is part of the Horizon 2020 framework programme for R&I and attracted researchers from across the globe.

These 34 research groups include 116 researchers from 22 different countries. The research selected for funding covers a wide range of scientific domains, including Chemistry. The list of selected proposals is available here.

New ERC Vice-Presidents

The ERC announced in a Press Release that Professors Andrzej Jajszczyk and Nektarios Tavernarakis have been elected as the new ERC Vice Presidents. Their mandate starts on 1 January 2021.

Sources:

• https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2020-synergy-grants-results
• https://erc.europa.eu/news/andrzej-jajszczyk-and-nektarios-tavernarakis-elected-new-erc-vice-presidents

Luigi Campanella, Senior Chair of the EuChemS Working Party on Ethics in Chemistry, wrote a contribution for EuChemS on the role of Chemistry during the COVID-19 crisis. In his article, Professor Campanella explores possible scientific answers that can be found in Open Science, Big Data, knowledge, and expertise.

Beyond the technical and scientific contributions that chemistry can provide, it is necessary to re-emphasise one of its unique characteristics that perhaps could act as a catalyst in the team’s work: chemistry works positively if and only if it can cultivate, by working alone or in a team, the concept of diversity and scientific doubt.

Luigi Campanella
Source: https://bit.ly/2JRtWPp

We invite you to read the full article HERE.

November is a busy month for EuChemS in terms of events. Three webinars were scheduled this month: one on science-policy concerning circular economy, one purely scientific on CO₂ conversion and an information session on EuChemS awards.

We kindly invite you to read on below to discover more about all of them.

The Value is on Circularity: Recycling-reusing-reinvesting on critical raw materials

On 5 November, we had the pleasure to co-host with MEP Maria Spyraki the webinar The Value is on Circularity: Recycling-reusing-reinvesting on critical raw materials. This online event saw a wide range of scientific and EU policy discussions on the endangered elements.

An impressive line-up of speakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the industry sector, European universities, and national research centres participated in this event. For two hours, the necessity to recycle and protect critical elements were deliberated. Debates ensued during the Q&A Session, notably on how to include early career researchers as part of the solution to implement a circular economy.

In total, more than 300 individuals from the industry sector, policymakers, researchers, and chemistry students have registered for this webinar. EuChemS thanks MEP Maria Spyraki and her assistants for excellent collaboration in organising this event, as well as all the speakers for their prompt responses. The big and diverse audience we had is a good indicator of the relevance of the circular economy topic. Thank you all for joining online, the recording of the webinar will soon be available on the EuChemS YouTube channel, and the presentations of the speakers will be added to the EuChemS website!

2018 EuChemS Lecture Awardee

Shortly after, on 13 November, EuChemS Secretariat organised the first online EuChemS Lecture Awardee webinar. Originally, the talk was planned to take place at the EuChemS European Chemistry Congress this year, which was postponed for two years due to the pandemic.

Raffaella Buonsanti was awarded the EuChemS Lecture Award in 2018, in recognition of her major achievements in Chemistry. After the laudation, given by Barbara Ruth Albert, Chair of the International Award Committee for the EuChemS Lecture Award, Raffaella Buonsanti gave a talk on ‘Colloidal chemistry for tunable nanocrystals as CO₂ conversion catalysts.’

Furthermore, two early career researchers from Raffaella Buonsanti’s group at EPFL were invited to give a talk. Valeria Mantella discussed ‘Insights into reaction intermediates via in-situ X-Ray spectroscopy to predict synthetic pathways for shape-controlled Cu nanocrystals.’ Chethana J Gadiya gave a presentation on ‘Nanocrystals as precursors in solid-state reactions for size- and shape-controlled polyelemental nanomaterials’.

The event was moderated by Pilar Goya, EuChemS President.

Attendees engaged actively in the two Q&A Sessions of the webinar. We would like to thank all the speakers and attendees for sharing up-to-date scientific knowledge and participating in this event.

The recording of the webinar will soon be available on the EuChemS YouTube channel, so keep an eye on the EuChemS website and social media!

EuChemS Awards Info Session

Mark your calendar! On Tuesday 24 November, from 10:00 to 11:30 CET, EuChemS will host an Information Session on its Awards.

During this Information Session, the nomination procedures and selection process of EuChemS Awards will be explained by EuChemS Secretariat and the Chair of the European Young Chemists’ Network: European Chemistry Gold Medal, EuChemS Lecture Award, EuChemS Award for Service, EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award and European Young Chemists’ Award (EYCA). Attendees will learn about the aim of each Award, who is eligible, who can nominate a candidate and other useful tips. We will also have some guest speakers, who will be revealed closer to the event.

This Information Session is for those who consider submitting a nomination to one of the EuChemS calls currently open, and also for those who want to discover more about how EuChemS recognises outstanding achievements in the chemical sciences.

We invite you to discover more about the EuChemS Awards Information Session here.

Registration: here.