ECR meeting 2018

 

Early Career Researchers Meeting 2018

Joint with the Directed Assembly Grand Challenge Network

When: 18th-19th June 2018

Where: University of Strathclyde

Report: 

The 3rdEarly Career Researchers’ meeting for the Dial-a-Molecule and Directed Assembly EPSRC Grand Challenge networks took place on the 18thand 19thof June 2018, at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The event was attended by approximately forty early career researchers from across the UK, including Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Southampton, and York; early career attendees were typically in the early years of a first academic position, or working as postdoctoral researchers within a research group, and many elected to introduce themselves and their research through the medium of a two-minute flash presentation. We were pleased to welcome three plenary speakers – Professor Ian Fairlamb (York), Dr Craig Jamieson (Strathclyde), and Professor Steve Goldup (Southampton) – who delivered honest, engaging, and informative presentations on their career paths and the science that they do aligned with the networks.

As well as scientific discussions, we are grateful to various organisations for sending representatives to interact with early career researchers, explain what role they play in our communities, and how they can assist us in delivering and disseminating high-quality research, and impact from that research. These included representatives from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), ChemSinC, the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), and the new Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) facility based at Imperial College. Tea and lunch breaks were structured to allow networking and scientific discussions outside of the lecture theatre, and the conference dinner at Sloans provided a further opportunity for informal discussions.

We are very grateful to all who participated in the event by sharing their science and discussing the work that they and their organisations do within the community. We thank the sponsors and exhibitors – Asynt, Communications Chemistry, GPE, Radleys, RedBrick Molecular, the RSC, and Teledyne Technologies – and the networks for generously supporting this event, and look forward to future iterations.

David Nelson, University of Strathclyde

Marc Reid, University of Strathclyde

We thank the Royal Society of Chemistry Organic Division for supporting this event,