On the evening of Thursday 24 February 2022 RSC Belgium opened its 2022 programme with a webinar talk from RSC President Professor Tom Welton OBE on Green and Sustainable Chemistry.
In the presentation Tom discussed the development of the complimentary ideas of Green Chemistry and Sustainable Chemistry. He showed how regulation has led to innovation, how ideas of the scale of anthropogenic impacts on the environment have changed, and how Green Chemistry and Sustainable Chemistry relate to each other.
From a Belgian perspective it was interesting that Tom highlighted the Solvay process to produce Soda-Ash as one of the first examples of sustainable chemistry. In 1861, Belgian industrial chemist Ernest Solvay turned his attention to the expensive and highly polluting existing process to produce this precursor to soap. Solvay's process was more economical and with its recycling of ammonia, less polluting. The Solvay's constructed a plant in Couillet, today a suburb of Charleroi, and when on to build up an immense fortune based on chemistry.
Professor Tom Welton OBE FRSC CChem FCGI is Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial College London. He served as Head of Imperial’s Department of Chemistry from 2007 to 2014 and as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Science from 2015 to 2019. He is a Fellow and the current President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and previously connected with RSC Belgium during our 2021 AGM. Tom's research focuses on sustainable chemistry, with particular focus on ionic liquids and on solvent effects on chemical reactions.
On the evening of 29 January 2021 the RSC Belgium section held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) as a webinar event via Microsoft
Teams. The meeting commenced at 19:35 with nine section members present:
Bob Crichton, David Terrell, Hendrik Emons, Julie Tuppeny, Fabio Lucaccioni, Rita
Blakeborough Woodward, Susan Schamp, Tim Reynolds and Tracy Ehiwe. Also in attendance was co-opted Committee member: Bo
Dahlqvist. And in addition, we were pleased to welcome our guests RSC President Professor Tom Welton and RSC interim CEO Dr Helen Pain.
Eleven section members who were unable to attend the AGM had
asked the Chair to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required.
These members were: Prof. Dr Arthur Van Aerschot, Brian Sutcliffe, Christopher
K. Kariuki, Eveline Volcke, Giacomo Canciani, James Franklin, Joshua Holloway, Richard
Green, Steven De Feyter, Thomas Vranken, William Darnley and Marie-Beatrice
Madec.
1. Welcome and
introductory remarks from RSC President
Professor Tom Welton and RSC interim Chief Executive Dr Helen Pain
Section Chair Bob Crichton opened the AGM and welcomed Tom and
Helen to the meeting.
Tom (below) said it was a great pleasure to join the AGM and
described the RSC as still, despite recent political developments, very much a
European Chemical society.
He said that his presidency had been quite different to his expectations
due to the restrictions of COVID. He hoped the portfolio of vaccines that have
been developed would herald at least the end of this phase of the pandemic. He
noted how we have all adapted to this new normal and how we have all learned
new ways of working virtually. He thought that the use of virtual connections
would likely continue when normality, or near normality, was restored.
His president’s themes for 2021 focused on sustainability –
he has been a professor of sustainable chemistry for over 15 years – and this
was especially important to him both in terms of how we do chemistry and for
society as well. 2021 will see the COP26 meeting in Glasgow and the RSC was
determined to take an active role in it. This was the right moment to be laying
out the RSC’s plans for strategy in this area, which will be presented to
members over the next few months.
Helen Pain (right) also thanked the section for the invite to the
AGM. During 2020 she and Tom had attended nine regional meetings in the UK, and
it was important to continue to meet and talk to members, especially in these
difficult times. The RSC is thinking how it can connect better with its members
and be more inclusive. The RSC wants to hear more from its members to ensure
that the society remains relevant. It must retain its vision and ambition and
work to make a difference in the world.
Helen looked forward to continuing cooperation and collaboration around
the world and especially in Europe with its involvement with EUChems and IUPAC.
In that context she noted the appointment of previous CEO Robert Parker as RSC Ambassador
to Europe and the Commonwealth – he would be the RSC’s voice in Europe.
Both Tom and Helen wished the section well and looked
forward to returning to be able to work in Burlington House as soon as
possible. Tom noted he had yet to touch the Presidents medal!
Bob Crichton thanked Tom and Helen for their contributions
and hoped to be able to welcome them both to Belgium once COVID has been
vanquished.
2.Apologies for absence
There were no further apologies were noted.
3. Approval of
Minutes of 2020 AGM
No corrections were suggested, and the meeting moved (David
Terrell), seconded (Bo Dahlqvist) and hence unanimously adopted the minutes.
4. Committee Report
on the Section’s 2020 Activities (Tim Reynolds – Secretary)
The Secretary presented the 2020 report.
As with most other aspects of our lives, the COVID crisis in
2020 had a major impact on RSC Belgium’s programme of activities. Yet despite
the challenges raised by the various lockdowns, travel bans and social
distancing restrictions, during 2020, RSC Belgium managed to organise three
public lectures (one physical and two virtual), held its AGM and a fund raising
social, and our two annual school outreach events - the Chemistry Challenge and
the Top of the Bench ‘European Eliminator’ – were successfully undertaken. We
also welcomed our seventh Norman Lloyd scholar at Cardiff University.
Our next planned event would have been with Prof James Durrant
of Imperial College on 31 March talking about ‘Solar driven synthesis of
sustainable fuels: photochemistry meets catalysis’, but the first pandemic
lockdown intervened. We hope to rearrange this event, either physically or
virtually, in February 2021.
On Saturday 12 September, with COVID restrictions eased
momentarily in Belgium we were able to hold an
appropriately socially-distanced fundraising event for our Norman Lloyd Scholarships
at our section treasurer Julie Tuppeny’s abode that raised some EUR 870 raised
for the fund.
Our Top of the Bench
regional heat was also a virtual affair taking place in late November and
early December. Due to the various restrictions only four teams from two
schools (St Georges in Luxembourg and ISF Waterloo) were able to take part in
the written and practice exercises set, as ever, by Rita Woodward. But, also as
ever, all the teams performed well with the overall winner being Team
Phosphorus from St. Georges school who will be representing Belgium section at
the virtual TOTB finals in March 2021.
We hope to be organising more events in 2021 – either
virtual or physical depending on the situation – and look forward to seeing
many members and friends on screen or face-to-face during the year. Details
of forthcoming events can always be found on the RSC Belgium blog but our
first two events will be on 11 February with Prof James Durrant of Imperial
College on Solar Fuels and 18 March with Prof Annemie Bogaerts of Antwerp
University on plasma chemistry for CO2 conversion.
There were no questions on the report, and it was unanimously
approved.
5. Financial Report
of 2020 (Julie Tuppeny – Treasurer)
The treasurer presented the 2020 financial report and
accounts.
Like previous years 2020 was planned to be another busy
year, until restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic saw cancellations and
lectures moved online for the Section and its committee.
The main highlights of the year were our two online lectures
from Brigitte van Tiggelen and David Cole-Hamilton and a live lecture from
Joris Proost. Our two annual competitions for schools were organised to comply
with COVID restrictions. Our Chemistry Challenge Competition was well attended and was performed online, and
the Top of the Bench (TOTB) Eliminator Round was organised in schools with four
teams from two Schools taking part.
On 1 January 2020, the net assets of RSC
Belgium Section were €5 929.46. The Annual Grant for 2020 received in June 2020
from RSC UK was € 6 589.00 which was less than the € 10 307.50 that was asked
for.
The major item of expenditure for the year was € 865 to
organise the Chemistry Challenge, of which €675 was prize money.
For the Year ending
31 December 2020, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section amount to €10,709.91.
Bearing in mind that under Belgian Law, the status of the
RSC Belgium Section holds the three Officers personally liable for debts
arising from the activities of the Belgium Section, a grant request of € 2 000
will be requested from RSC UK to cover all the activities planned for 2021.
The meeting unanimously adopted the Treasurer’s report.
6. Chairman’s Remarks
(Bob Crichton)
The Chairman thanked all members of the committee for their
hard work and support during a difficult year. It had been satisfying to have
organised several events despite the COVID situation.
He hoped that all section members were managing well under
the lockdown regime and looked forward to a more active year in 2021 with a
fuller programme – either virtual or physical or a bit of both.
7. Election of
committee members and section officers
The following nominations had been received:
Section
Chair:Robert Crichton
Section
Treasurer:Julie Tuppeny
Section
Secretary:Tim Reynolds
Ordinary
members of the committee: Fabio
Lucaccioni, Susan Schamp, Rita Woodward
Election to the committee is for a two-year term.
There being no further nominations and the number of
nominations being less than the number of vacancies (A maximum of five ordinary
members are allowed and David Terrell is mid-way through his current term as an
ordinary member of the committee) the nominees were duly elected to the
committee for 2021.
At the first committee meeting of 2021 Bo Dahlqvist will be
co-opted onto the committee.
8. Auditing
arrangements for 2021
Having reviewed the section rules (which state the section
auditor could be any member of the section who was not a current member of the
committee) and the financial audit requirements for the section reports to RSC
HQ (no formal audit required) at the first committee meeting in 2020 it had
been decided to approach a section member (Lance Smallshaw) to review/ audit
the section accounts, rather than seek to continue an external audit by an
accountant.
9. Any Other Business
It was noted that the first event of the 2021 programme will
be on Thursday 11 February 2021 via Teams with Prof. James Durrant of Imperial
College talking about Solar Fuels.
The meeting Adjourned at 19:55. The first meeting of the 2021
committee will take place on Tuesday 16 March 2021 via Teams from 19h15.
The Belgium section of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) was established in 1989. It has around 120 professional members in Belgium and an extensive list of 'Friends of RSC Belgium'. The section organises lectures, visits and social events with a principal objective of promoting the chemical sciences to the public.
