Welcome from the President of Commonwealth Chemistry
It is a pleasure for me to welcome all the Commonwealth Chemistry delegates to the beautiful town of Stellenbosch in South Africa. I hope the setting will provide the ideal location for you all to meet and interact with the many other delegates that come from a wide variety of Commonwealth Chemistry countries from all over the world. The successful 2nd Commonwealth Chemistry Congress took place 23-25th May 2023 at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, in Trinidad and Tobago. This milestone event has provided a strong model for this year’s Congress in terms of speakers, style of presentations and format. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have again provided the focus for all contributions from invited delegates, from the many stimulating panel discussions to the scientific themes for all posters and talks presented by many attendees at this event. Like in 2023, a key focus of the Congress is to enable Early Career Chemists across the Commonwealth to share their research data and findings, stories, and knowledge at this event. All Early Career Chemist delegates should be proud of the achievement of having been selected to attend this unique event. The Commonwealth Chemistry Early Career Network (ECN) was launched in 2023 at the 3rd Commonwealth Chemistry Congress. Since the Congress, the ECN Committee has organised several webinars on topics intended to support Early Career Chemists across the Commonwealth, ranging from empowering women chemists, to fostering scientific collaboration, to advice on accessing advanced laboratory facilities worldwide. The ECN Committee will be offering an exciting session at this year’s Congress which will aim to equip Early Career Chemists with leadership skills to develop their careers – please be sure to make the most of this important session. The overall theme for the Congress is Partnership for the Goals (UN SDG 17) as it was for our Congress in 2023, underlining the importance of collaboration and partnership for the benefit of chemical science across the Commonwealth. In this vein, each country represented at the Congress has been provided the opportunity to attend the meeting under a model of equal representation, offering our Commonwealth Chemistry member societies and wider network of country representatives the opportunity to maximise conversation and networking opportunities, fostering meaningful new international alliances and thus building partnerships for the future. The success of our event will be determined by your engagement with other participants, your thoughts on the future of chemistry and of course your enthusiasm. Please be sure to make the most of this unique opportunity, and of course, enjoy experiencing Stellenbosch and its surroundings.
Professor Neil Coville President, Commonwealth Chemistry University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
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