2026 RSC Belgium Annual General Meeting and Annual Dinner

The RSC Belgium Section 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Dinner took place on Friday 23 January 2026 at Les Amis Dinent Restaurant, Chaussee de Malines/ Mechelsesteenweg 113, 1970 Wezembeek-Oppem.

The meeting commenced at 19h35 and was chaired by Section Secretary Prof Bob Crichton in the absence of Section Chair Tim Reynolds who had to attend a family funeral in the UK.

Seven section members were present: David Terrell, Robert Crichton, Julie Tuppeny, Susan Schamp, Fabio Lucaccioni, Ludovic Troian-Gautier, and Axhentila Mpali.Co-opted committee member Bo Dahlqvist was also present.

Eleven section members who were unable to attend the AGM sent their apologies and had asked the Chair of the meeting to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required. These members were: Tim Reynolds, Wim De Borggraeve, Steven De Feyter, Richard Green, Ari Koskinen, Dirk Vanderzande, James Franklin, Mike Wijnhoven, Koen Clays, Robert Markowski, and Rashmi Singh.

 The draft minutes of the meeting are posted below for your nformation.

1. Apologies for absence

No further apologies had been received.

2. Approval of Minutes of 2025 AGM

No corrections were suggested, and the meeting moved and unanimously adopted the minutes.

4. Committee Report on the Section’s 2025 Activities (Bob Crichton – Secretary)

The Secretary presented the 2025 Committee report.

“During 2025 RSC Belgium organised five public evening lectures (most of which were recorded and posted on our @RoySocChemBelgium YouTube channel) and held a Café Chimique on aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and healthcare.

The year kicked off , as usual with our 2025 AGM and Annual Dinner on the evening of Friday 19 January at Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem. At the AGM Tim Reynolds was elected as Section Chair, Bob Crichton was elected as Section Secretary and Fabio Lucaccioni was elected as Treasurer. In addition, Julie Tuppeny, Rita Woodward, and Susan Schamp were elected as committee members. Other committee members in mid-term were David Terrell and Ari Koskinen.

During the year, your section committee met only twice: on 14 January and 29 November but stayed connected via email and social media.

The 2025 talks programme commenced on 4 February with Professor Bob Crichton giving an enlightening talk entitled 'How Gaming theory helped solve Protein Structure Prediction – an overview of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry'. This was followed on 27 March with the return to Belgium of Professor Andrea Sella of University College London to give us his renowned 'Strange Ice' talk.

On 29 April we welcomed Professor Frank Vanhaecke from Ghent University to talk about ‘ICP-mass spectrometry in the biomedical sciences: pushing the boundaries of the application range’. Frank had received the RSC’s prestigious ‘Theophilus Redwood award’ in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the chemical sciences in the area of analytical chemistry. Our first half of the year was completed with a Café Chimique on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on 13 May featuring two pioneering entrepreneurs of the use of AI in healthcare: Dr Dani Manjah from Professor Benoit Macq's research group at the Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain, and Thibaut Helleputte, founder and CEO of DNAlytics.

Sadly, over the summer we lost one of the section’s founding members and the leading light of our work with schools in Belgium: Rita Woodward. Rita served on the RSC Belgium section committee continuously from its founding in the early 1990s until her passing. In 2010 Rita had received an RSC Award for Service to recognise her outstanding support for the work of the society. We will miss her very much. A social event for Rita was held to remember and celebrate Rita’s life in early October.

Our activities resumed on 30 September with a talk from Professor Gwenhaël de Wasseige from the Universite Catholique de Louvain about her exciting work on neutrinos and other astronomical phenomena. And our final event of the year was a pre-Halloween treat on 28 October with science writer Victoria Atkinson telling us about ‘Witchcraft’s chemical secrets: the science behind the spells’.

Unfortunately, during the year, we were not able to organise our annual Chemistry Challenge competition nor a Top of the Bench (ToTB) type event. But our 2024 ToTB winners, Team Solvay from St Georges School in Luxembourg, were able to represent Belgium at the last ever ToTB final in the UK that took place on 22 March at Cardiff University. We hope to revive our schools’ events during 2026.

Just before the AGM we received news of the last two students who will receive awards from our Dr Norman Lloyd Scholarship Fund at Cardiff University. They are Caitlin Nghiem and Jesyka Dunn who are both in the final year of their MChem degrees and are exceptional students. The scholarship scheme ran from 2014 to 2025 and was closed in 2025 with the agreement of Norman’s family and the university.

Our YouTube channel continued to grow during the year with some 506 subscribers and our ‘content’ continues to prove extremely popular. Our all time ‘Top Three’ videos (as of the end of 2025) remain, as last year, at #3 Philip Ball with 1,830 views, in second spot Plasma-based CO2 conversion with 9,520 views, while Nick Lane remains top of the pops with a remarkable 25,546 views. Our post popular video posted in 2025 was the ‘Gaming theory to Protein structure’ talk from February with some 247views.

We aim to run a full programme of events during 2026, but we need to inspire more of our local members to help organise our events and activities. Details of forthcoming events can always be found on the RSC Belgium blog.”

There were no questions on the report, and the meeting moved and unanimously approved its adoption.

5. Financial Report for 2025 (Fabio Lucaccioni – Treasurer)

The treasurer presented the 2025 financial report and accounts.

“The 2025 financial statements have been prepared with revenues and expenditures classified according to categories predefined by the RSC Headquarters.

• Current Account Balance (Year-End 2025): € 4,529.85

• Net Expenses (Receipts minus Payments): € 1,417.25

• Savings Account Balance (Year-End 2025): € 4,549.98

Extraordinary Event – Bank Error:

During the summer 2024, our banking partner (ING) erroneously issued a debit card linked to the RSC account to our Chairman, Professor Crichton. This administrative error resulted in unintentional use of the card by Professor Crichton for personal transactions. Upon identifying the issue, the bank issued a formal apology. Professor Crichton, unaware of the card’s linkage to the RSC account, immediately reimbursed all expenses following a request from the Treasurer. Reimbursement was completed in two instalments due to an oversight in the initial bank statement reconciliation. The residual amount was cleared in early 2025 (€264.82).

Income Overview:

Total Income (2025): €4,654.83

Key income sources:

• Grant from RSC Headquarters: €4,000.00

• Revenue from Annual Dinner

• Reimbursement from Professor R. Crichton – Bank Error

• Interest from the Deposit Account

Expenditure Overview:

Total Expenses (2025): €3,237.58

Breakdown of key expenses:

1. Annual Dinner after AGM: €757.50

2. Six Lectures – 200 attendees:

o BSB Auditorium venue hire : €496.00

o Speakers travel, accommodation, gift and bank charges: €1,984.08

Audit Compliance: As the total annual income is below £10,000.00, the accounts are not subject to external audit.”

 The meeting moved and unanimously approved adoption of the Treasurer’s report.

 6. Chair’s Remarks (Bob Crichton in Tim Reynold’s absence)

On behalf of the Chair Bob Crichton thanked all members of the committee for their continuing hard work and support and looked forward to this continuing during 2026.

The loss of Rita during the year had been very sad and a great loss to the section in particular her ideas and enthusiasm for the section’s activities with schools would be greatly missed. It would be important to recruit some new members to support the activities of the committee.

Bob said that the programme for 2026 was in formulation and the first talks of the year would the announced in the near future.

7. Election of committee members and section officers

The following nominations had been received for election to the committee. There were three vacancies for committee members.

Nominations for Committee Members: David Terrell, Ludovic Troian-Gautier

All positions are for a two-year term. As the number of nominations was less than the number of vacant positions, both candidates were duly elected.

Other committee members in mid-term are Tim Reynolds (Section Chair), Bob Crichton (Section Secretary), Fabio Lucaccioni (Section Treasurer), Julie Tuppeny and Susan Schamp

At the first committee meeting of 2026 Bo Dahlqvist will be co-opted onto the committee.

8. Auditing arrangements

As noted above as the section turnover did not exceed £10 000 then RSC rules indicate that no formal audit is required before the accounts are submitted to HQ.

9. Any Other Business

There was no AOB and the meeting adjourned at 19h50.

The meeting was followed by the Section Annual Dinner. Images below.

2023 Section AGM and Annual Dinner

On Friday 20 January 2023 the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Dinner of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Belgium International Section 023 was held at Les Amis Dinent Restaurant, Chaussee de Malines/ Mechelsesteenweg 113, 1970 Wezembeek-Oppem.

The meeting commenced at 19h35. Seven section members were present: Bob Crichton, Tim Reynolds, Julie Tuppeny, Fabio Lucaccioni, Rita Woodward, Susan Schamp, and Ricky Payen. Also in attendance were co-opted Committee members: Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris. Seven section members who were unable to attend the AGM sent their apologies and had asked the Chair to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required. These members were: David Terrell, Dharmjeet Madhav, Deepak Pant, Filip du Prez, Steven De Feyter, Richard Green and Catherine Cazin.

1. Apologies for absence

Stefaniya Velichkova.

2. Approval of Minutes of 2022 AGM

No corrections were suggested, and the meeting moved (Rita Woodward), seconded (Fabio Lucaccioni) and unanimously adopted the minutes.

4. Committee Report on the Section’s 2022 Activities (Tim Reynolds – Secretary)

The Secretary presented the 2022 report.

“2022 saw the section’s activities return to (relatively) normal operation as the impact of COVID reduced and restrictions were lifted. During 2022 RSC Belgium managed to organise seven public lectures (either as webinars or hybrid events), a virtual AGM, a summer social event in Brussels, a fund raising social for our Norman Lloyd Scholarships, and our two annual school outreach events: the Chemistry Challenge and the Top of the Bench ‘Eliminator’, which was an in-person event. Our eighth Norman Lloyd scholarship recipient enjoyed his first year at Cardiff University and we have just got the name of the next recipient.

Our 2022 AGM was once again run as a webinar event on the evening of 14 January and was subsequently made available on our dedicated @RoySocChemBelgium YouTube channel. Two members were elected to the section committee for a two-year term: David Terrell and Dharmjeet Madhav. During the year your section committee met five times on 18 January (virtual), 29 March (hybrid), 19 May (virtual), 13 September (hybrid) and 22 November (hybrid).

Our 2022 programme of talks kicked off on 24 February with a webinar from RSC President Professor Tom Welton OBE on Green and Sustainable Chemistry. This was followed on 31 March with a webinar event on Chemical recycling of plastic wastes with Henk Pool of Cefic – the European Chemical Industries Association.

The outlook for nuclear energy in Europe was the subject of our third webinar on 28 April with Andrei Goicea from FORATOM, while on 19 May our members and friends tuned in for a webinar describing a major breakthrough for the prevention of breast cancer recurrences and metastases with Professor Pierre Sonveaux of the Universite Catholique de Louvain.

Fortunately during the long summer, we were able to restart in-person events with two social events. On Saturday 2 July, we were treated to a fascinating guided walk exploring ‘Foreign Bodies’ in the centre of Brussels led by Dr Paul Snell who  specialises in art and architectural tours. Raising funds for our Norman Lloyd Scholarships was the main aim of a social event on 20 August hosted by Rita and Peter Woodward in their beautiful garden in Duisberg. The sunny event raised Eur 920.

On 29 September we welcomed back both a ‘live’ audience and our good friend Professor Vincent Lemaitre from Universite Catholique de Louvain to discuss the latest thinking in high energy and astrophysics. The event was held the British School of Brussels and we also attempted to livestream the event – unfortunately the webinar feed cut out early on. This event was also the prize-giving ceremony for our 2022 Chemistry Challenge initiative undertaken as a virtual event over the early summer with the students working remotely at their schools. For the 2022 Challenge, we received entries from most of our group of international and European schools with 65 students participating.

On 20 October we reverted to a webinar format launching into deepest space with an entertaining and informative talk on 'Exoplanets or the quest for other worlds beyond our solar system' from Prof Michaël Gillon of the University of Liege. Our final talk of the year was on 24 November when we welcomed another old friend, Professor David Leigh from University of Manchester, to talk about ‘Making the tiniest Machines’ with some extraordinary chemistry and also some marvellous magic! This was a ‘live’ event, but we suffered with poor sound quality on the webinar recording. 

On Saturday 17 December we were able to hold our first in-person Top of the Bench (TOTB) regional heat for a while. The heat was held later in the year than normal and just two schools were able to field two teams each to compete on the day. However, the competition was extremely keen and a very tight contest was eventually won by Team Sodium from the British School of Brussels who will represent Belgium section at the London finals in March. Thanks as ever to Rita and Susan for developing the written and practical tasks for Top of the Bench and the teams for their enthusiasm.

During the year, our eighth recipient of a Norman Lloyd scholarship at Cardiff University, Martim Gouveia Pereira, worked hard despite the issues around studying during Covid. He says that he has used the scholarship to invest in his soft skills which has led him to be shortlisted by Oxford Medical School to read Medicine in 2024. And we have just received news of ninth recipient, Benjamin Condon, who started his MChem degree course in the Autumn term.

As mentioned earlier we now have a YouTube channel where you can find our videoed webinars. Some of our @RoySocChemBelgium ‘content’ has proved to be very popular. Our Top Three videos (as of 17 January 2023) are at #3 Philip Ball with 659 views, second spot goes to Plasma-based CO2 conversion with 3,122 views, while Nick Lane is top of the pops with a remarkable 8,272 views.

We hope to again run a full programme of in-person events during 2023, the majority of which we hope to record and then post on YouTube. We look forward to seeing many more members and friends face-to-face during the year. Details of forthcoming events can always be found on the RSC Belgium blog.

We aim to kick off our 2023 programme with a Café Chimique at BSB on 9 February 2023 on the topic of 'Sustainable Urban Transport'. Further details on this and future events will be announced soon.”

There were no questions on the report, and the meeting moved (Susan Schamp), seconded (Julie Tuppeny) and unanimously approved adoption of it.

5. Financial Report of 2022 (Julie Tuppeny – Treasurer)

The treasurer presented the 2022 financial report and accounts.

“At the beginning of 2022 continued restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic meant that the first four lectures of the year were online. However, both Tom Welton and Henk Pool had large registrations of 70 and 108 participants, respectively.

Our first in person event was the walking tour of Brussels on 2 July with sixteen participants. Our first live event was the lecture at BSB with Vincent Lemaitre with forty people attending in person and ten online.

Our two annual competitions for schools, the Chemistry Challenge Competition had sixty-five students taking part from seven schools and the Top of the Bench (TOTB) Eliminator Round was in person for the first time in two years with two schools and four teams taking part.

On 1 January 2022, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section were €11,665.28 The Annual Grant for 2022 was received in June 2022 from RSC UK of € 4,000.

Major items of expenditure are listed below:

• Chemistry Challenge of which €395 was prize money.
• David Leigh lecture due to hotel costs.

For the Year ending 31 December 2022, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section amount to €11,710.04 in the current account and €2,103.26 in the Savings account giving a total of €13,813.30.

This balance will enable the RSC Belgium Section to offer a broad selection of public lectures from visiting speakers this coming year.

However, bearing in mind that 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 we will ensure that the bank balance always remains in good standing.”

The meeting unanimously adopted the Treasurer’s report.

6. Chair’s Remarks (Bob Crichton)

The Chair thanked all members of the committee for their continuing hard work and support and looked forward to continuing success in this new year.

In particular he looked forward to a complete return to live events during 2023. The committee had recently decided to focus on live, in-person events rather than hybrid. However, the majority of our events would be recorded for viewing or presentation via our YouTube Channel. The only thing that could stand in the way of this was a return of COVID, but that was something that was out of our hands.

The section’s 2023 programme was shaping up and in addition to the Cafe Chimique on Transport in February, the section hoped to be welcoming back Hal Sosabowski for demonstration lectures, inviting a talk from researchers at the John Innes Centre on genetically modified crops and investigating the role of mRNA in new cancer treatment and other medical developments.

7. Election of committee members and section officers

The following nominations had been received for election to the committee.

Chair:              Prof Bob Crichton

Secretary:        Mr Tim Reynolds

Treasurer:        Mr Fabio Lucaccioni

Committee:     Mrs Rita Woodward, Dr Susan Schamp, Ms Julie Tuppeny

All positions are for a two-year term. As the number of nominations equalled the number of vacant positions, all candidates were duly elected.

Two committee members are in mid-term: Dr David Terrell and Dr Dharmjeet Madhav.

At the first committee meeting of 2023 Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris will also be co-opted onto the committee.

8. Auditing arrangements for 2023

Julie confirmed that accounts must be prepared and submitted to RSC HQ by 27 January  2023. These accounts did not require a formal audit prior to submission. If a review/ audit was required section member Lance Smallshaw had agreed to assist.

9. Any Other Business

As noted previously the first event of the 2023 programme will be on the evening of Thursday 9 February 2023 with a Café Chimique on Sustainable Urban Transport at the British School of Brussels.

The meeting Adjourned at 20h10. The first meeting of the 2023 committee has been provisionally scheduled for Tuesday 14 March 2023 from 19h15.

The meeting was followed by the sections Annual Dinner.

RSC Belgium 2022 AGM

The 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Belgium International section (RSC Belgium) took place on the evening of  Friday 14 January 2022 via webinar meeting on Microsoft Teams.

The meeting commenced at 19:35. Tweleve section members attended the meeting online: Bob Crichton (Chair), Tim Reynolds (Secretary), Julie Tuppeny (Treasurer), David Terrell, Fabio Lucaccioni, Rita Woodward, Susan Schamp, Dharmjeet Madhav, Ricky Payen, Ari Koskinen, Geoffrey Knight and Richard Green.

Also in attendance were co-opted Committee members: Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris.

Twelve section members who were unable to attend the AGM sent their apologies and had asked the Chair to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required. These members were: Deepak Pant, Brian Sutcliffe, Filip du Prez, Steven De Feyter, Lance Smallshaw, Albert Dijkstra, Marie-Beatrice Madec, Eveline Volcke, Joshua Holloway, Catherine Cazin, Tracey Ehiwe and Colin McCarney.

1. Apologies for absence

There no further apologies were noted.

2. Approval of Minutes of 2021 AGM

No corrections were suggested, and the meeting moved (Rita Woodward), seconded (Susan Schamp) and hence unanimously adopted the minutes.

4. Committee Report on the Section’s 2021 Activities (Tim Reynolds – Secretary)

The Secretary presented the 2021 report.

“As in 2020 the activities of the section have been significantly impacted by the continuing COVID crisis. However, building on our success in 2020 in initiating webinar-based activities RSC Belgium was able to run a comprehensive programme of activities. During 2021 RSC Belgium managed to organise seven public lecture webinars, our AGM, a fund raising social, and our two annual school outreach events: the Chemistry Challenge and the Top of the Bench ‘European Eliminator’. We also welcomed our eighth Norman Lloyd scholarship recipient at Cardiff University.

Our 2021 AGM was run as a webinar event on Microsoft Teams on the evening of 29 January and we were fortunate to be joined over the ether by RSC President Professor Tom Welton of Imperial College London and RSC CEO Dr Helen Pain. The AGM was recorded and is now available, along with many of our webinar events, on our own dedicated YouTube channel. Please note that our first lecture event of 2022 will be given by Prof Welton on 24 February 2022 on the topic of 'Sustainable Chemistry'.

We kicked our lecture programme in 2021 on 11 February with Prof James Durrant also from Imperial College on developments in Sustainable Solar Fuels. This was followed on 18 March with a fascinating talk from Professor Annemie Bogaerts of the University of Antwerp on plasma-based catalysis and processes in particular for CO2 conversion.

On 22 April members and friends of the section enjoyed a talk on ‘Edible Oils and Fats’ from long-time section member Dr Albert Dijkstra a well-known expert in this field and on 27 May we welcomed back Professor Nick Lane from University College London to explore the question: How does chemistry come alive?

During the summer, while COVID restrictions were more relaxed, the section was once again able to hold an appropriately socially distanced fundraising event for our Norman Lloyd Scholarships at Setsuko Lloyd’s house in Lasne. A very sunny and enjoyable afternoon raised a total of €860 for the fund.

During the year, our seventh recipient of a Norman Lloyd scholarship at Cardiff University, Cara Watkins, worked hard and enjoyed the 1^st year of her chemistry degree and at the end of the year we received news of eighth recipient, MartimGouveia Pereira, who started his degree course in the Autumn term. After the deduction of £1,000 for Martim’s award and including the funds raised in 2021 the Norman C Lloyd Scholarship Fund currently stands at £1,278.62.

September saw the results of our 2021 Chemistry Challenge announced. As for the previous year we had to organise a virtual event but received entries from the majority of our group of international and European schools in the Brussels area and beyond. The prize-winners from the Challenge, including this year’s overall winner and recipient of the coveted Keith Price Award, were announced at a very entertaining and informative webinar event with Dr John O'Donoghue of Trinity College Dublin on 'Chemistry in the Movies' on the evening of 23 September.

On the evening of  21 October RSC Belgium members and friends were treated to an inspiring webinar talk from regular Chemistry World columnist and author Dr Philip Ball on The Beauty of Chemistry.

Our final lecture event of the year was on 25 November with Professor Jean-François Gohy from the Université Catholique de Louvain on advances and opportunities for future battery technologies.

Our Top of the Bench (TOTB)regional heat was also, again, a virtual affair taking place in late November and early December. In 2021 only four teams from two schools had been able to complete and return results in our first attempt at a COVID-proof TOTB, but this year 13 teams from seven schools were involved – returning participation to pre-COVID levels – and including for the first-time teams from the European Schools in Luxembourg. For 2021 online written and hands-on practical exercises were set by RSC Belgium committee members Rita Woodward and Susan Schamp. As ever the competition was very close with some notable individual performances and excellent teamwork, but the overall winner was the Titanium team from St Georges International School – that school’s third win a row - who will be representing RSC Belgium at the TOTB finals in March 2022.

We hope to be running a full programme of events during 2022 – either virtual or physical depending on the evolving COVID 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.

As mentioned, our next programmed event is with Professor Tom Welton on 24 February 2022 on the topic of 'Sustainable Chemistry'. Further events will be announced.”

There were no questions on the report, and it was unanimously approved.

5. Financial Report of 2020 (Julie Tuppeny – Treasurer)

The treasurer presented the 2021 financial report and accounts.

“Like previous years 2021 was planned to be another busy year, until restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic saw cancellations and lectures moved online for RSC Belgium Section (RSCB) and its committee.

Our two annual competitions for schools, the Chemistry Challenge Competition were well attended with 68 students taking part, and the Top of the Bench (TOTB) Eliminator Round.

On 1^st January 2021, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section were €10,709. 91 The Annual Grant for 2021 was received in July 2021 from RSC UK of € 2,626.25 which was less than the 4,952.50 that was asked for.

Major items of expenditure during the year are listed below.

• € 706 to organise the Chemistry Challenge of which €620 was prize money.
• € 236.97  to organise the TOTB eliminator round.

For the Year ending 31 December 2021, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section amount to €9,563.98 in the current account and €2,101.30 in the Savings account giving a total of €11,665.28.

Bearing in mind 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 of €2,000 will be requested from RSC UK to cover all the activities planned for 2022.”

The meeting unanimously adopted the Treasurer’s report.

6. Chair’s Remarks (Bob Crichton)

The Chair thanked all members of the committee for their hard work and support during another difficult year. In particular he thanked Fabio for his technical support in running our successful webinars.

Bob hoped that the section would be able to run more face-to-face events in 2022, however the section needed to follow guidelines from RSC HQ as well as the local rules and we awaited their instructions.

7. Election of committee members and section officers

Two nominations had been received for election to the committee as ordinary members.

• David Terrell
• Dharmjeet Madhav

As the number of nominations equalled the number of vacant positions, both candidates were elected to the committee for a period of two years.

At the first committee meeting of 2022 Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris were co-opted onto the committee. Full details of the 2022 committee membership are available here.

8. Auditing arrangements for 2022

Julie confirmed that accounts must be prepared and submitted to RSC HQ by 7 February 2022. These accounts did not require a formal audit prior to submission. If a review/ audit was required section member Lance Smallshaw had agreed to assist.

9. Any Other Business

As noted previously the first event of the 2022 programme will be on Thursday 24 February 2022 via Teams with Prof. Tom Welton of Imperial College London on 24 February 2022 on the topic of 'Green and Sustainable Chemistry'.

A question on the funding of the section by HQ was asked by Geoffrey Knight. Bob and Julie confirmed that the funding was through an annual grant and that this was not a loan, and the section did not have any debts.

The meeting Adjourned at 19:50. The first meeting of the 2022 committee took place on Tuesday 18 January 2022.

RSC Belgium 2021 AGM goes online

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.

You can watch the AGM proceedings below or via our dedicated YouTube channel and the draft minutes of the meeting are pasted below. The full formal draft minutes can be downloaded here and will be presented to the AGM of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Belgium Section in 2022 for approval. 

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.

Following our 2020 AGM and Annual Dinner on 17 January, we kicked the year off with a lecture from Prof Joris Proost from the Universite Catholique de Louvain on the evening of 11 February entitled 'Towards the Hydrogen Economy: Challenges and Pitfalls'.

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.

Despite the lockdown we managed to organise our 2020 Chemistry Challenge competition for senior high school students over the summer term.

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.

Later in the year we welcomed our seventh recipient of a Norman Lloyd scholarship at Cardiff University: Cara Watkins. Cara is in the 1^st year of her chemistry degree at Cardiff.

September also saw our first attempt at a virtual evening lecture event. On the evening of 24 September Professor David Cole-Hamilton, Past President of the European Chemical Society and Irvine Professor of Chemistry at the University of St. Andrews talked about ‘Elements in Danger’ from his home in St. Andrews. The webinar was also the occasion for the announcement of our prize winners in our 2020 Chemistry Challenge including this year’s overall winner and recipient of the coveted Keith Price Award.

Our final lecture event of the year was on 12 November when Dr Brigitte van Tiggelen gave a virtual talk to the section on 'Women in Science' and in particular their contribution to the chemical sciences and the periodic table.

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.

RSC Belgium 2019 AGM Report

The section's Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on Friday 15 February 2019 at Les Amis Dinent Restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem at 19h30 and was followed by the section's Annual Dinner from 20h00. The meeting opened at 19:30 with ten members present but a further nine members, who were unable to attend the AGM in person, had asked the Chairman to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required thus achieving our quorum.

Following the recording of apologies received, the minutes of our previous AGM of 2 February 2018 were approved with no corrections. The section secretary, William Darnley, then presented the Committee Report on the Section's 2018 Activities. 2018 had been another good year for the section, with 10 events, of which six were public lectures, two social trips and our two annual school outreach events. The committee once again attended inter-section curling in Kent, where victory had been claimed! Membership stands at 131, a minor increase over last year.

The year kicked off with an evening with Prof. Sir Martyn Poliakoff – our highest attended event of the year with in excess of 50 people! And ended with another favourite: Dr. Urbina-Blanco’s talk on using CO2 as a chemical building block. In between these fabulous events were scattered throughout the year other, equally fantastic events, with a social outing to the highly interesting “Trainworld” train museum in Schaerbeek. We also took a trip to the Duvel brewery to the keen interest of many members. Other highlights included lectures on the duality of Music and Chemistry in April and a lecture on the history, importance and of course the chemistry of the colour blue.

We have our 5th Norman Lloyd scholar this year, William Cawdell. Reports from Cardiff are that he is a fantastic student and he intends to become a teacher!

Top of the Bench was yet another cracking event, with 11 teams from six schools and three countries partaking! It was an incredibly close call on the winners, but after reassessing all the teams’ performance in the practical exercise it was decided BSB was this year’s winners! They will be competing in the final in Birmingham in March.

Section finances

The section treasurer, Julie Tupenny, presented the 2018 financial report and accounts. On 1 January 2018, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section had been €8 552. The Annual Grant for 2018 received in June 2018 from RSC UK was €5 000, somewhat less than the requested €7 000. However, with no Café Chimique this year the financial situation is good.

For the Year ending 31 December 2018, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section amount to €10 311. This included part payment of a RSC Outreach Grant for the proposed Kitchen Chemistry tour (see below).

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 of €7 000 will be requested from RSC UK to cover all the activities planned for 2019.

On behalf of The Belgium Section, Julie thanked Ralph Palim F.C.A the Hon. Auditor for his thoroughness in auditing and approving the RSC Belgium Section for the year ending 31 December 2018. Ralph has agreed to continue as the section's auditor for 2019.

Chairman’s Remarks

The Chairman, Tim Reynolds, thanked the committee for their hard work and support during the year and during his four years as Chair of the section. As ever we had hosted an interesting and diverse programme including some firsts. He thanked William Darnley for taking on the burden of section secretary.

Looking forward to 2019 he anticipated a challenging year with the fallout from Brexit making all our lives a little more difficult, however he was pleased to announce that the RSC would be launching a free legal service via its Community Fund to all RSC members in the EU who required support over issues such as immigration, residence or nationality as a result of Brexit. The service would cover any member, their partner or dependents and was good news.

The RSC Belgium programme for 2019 was also looking good and pretty much complete. Highlights included a possible trip to Hamburg in June to visit DESY and the new XFEL facility that is set to revolutionise our understanding in the biological sciences; the Kitchen Chemistry schools tour in September that is largely funded by the first RSC Outreach Grant to be awarded to any section outside the UK and Republic of Ireland (another first for RSC Belgium!); and the Istvan Marko Memorial Symposium at Louvain-La-Neuve that the section will be supporting and is attracting some notable speakers.

In anticipation of the elections, the Chair wished Bob Crichton well as the incoming Section Chair and welcomed Matt Andrews to the committee.

Committee elections

Three ordinary members were elected to the committee (Rita Woodward, Matt Andrews, and William Darnley) and the three Section officers were elected with Bob Crichton becoming Chair, Julie Tupenny remaining as Treasurer, and Tim Reynolds moving to the role of Section Secretary.

Election to the committee is for a two-year term and David Terrell and Jane Downing are currently in mid-term on the committee. The full composition of the RSC Belgium section committee can be found here. The first meeting of the 2019 committee took place on 5 March 2019.

All business being completed the meeting adjourned at 19:59 and the Annual Dinner commenced. You can access the full draft Minutes of the 2019 AGM here. These minutes will be presented to the AGM of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Belgium Section in 2020 for approval.

RSC Belgium 2018 AGM Report

The section's Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on Friday  2 February 2018 at Les Amis Dinent Restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem at 19h30 and was followed by the section's Annual Dinner from 20h00. The meeting opened at 19:30 with ten members present but a further eight members, who were unable to attend the AGM in person, had asked the Chairman to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required thus achieving our quorum.

Following recording of apologies received, the minutes of our previous AGM of 10 February 2017 were approved with no corrections.  The section secretary, William Darnley then presented the Committee Report on the Section’s 2017 Activities. During the year the section organised twelve events, four evening lectures, two weekend social events, both of which were guided tours, the usual two school/outreach events and the ever popular Cafe Chimique. The committee attended an inter-section curling event in Kent in December, and finally, the committee did some fundraising to top up the Norman Lloyd Scholarship Fund. Membership of the section stood at 129, a slight dip on last of four.

Among the highlights were the lecture on energetic materials presented by Dr. Matt Andrews of MSIAC at NATO, the guided tour around the “Het Anker” brewery in Mechelen at the beginning of September and the lecture on “Copernicus: the EU’s Earth Observation Success story” back in February. Feedback from Cardiff University about Ms. Jessica Powell (the third recipient of the Norman Lloyd Scholarship) was very positive. The recipient for 2017-2018 was named as Ms. Ffion Cartwright. The report was unanimously approved (proposed by David Terrell and seconded by Brian Sutcliffe).

Section Finances
The treasurer, Julie Tupenny presented the 2017 financial report and accounts. On the 1st of January 2017, the net assets of the RSC Belgium Section were €5918 approx. The annual grant from RSC UK was €6000, somewhat less than the requested €7000. However, with careful management and a very successful Summer Concert at BSB the financial situation is good. The committee aims to keep the account at around €7000 due to Belgian regulations where the section officers are personally responsible for any deficit, and to the end a grant of €7000 will be requested from HQ.

The treasurer personally thanked Ralph Palim F.C.A the Hon. Auditor for his thoroughness in auditing and approving the accounts for the RSC Belgium Section for the year ending 31 December 2017. He will continue as auditor for the section accounts for 2018.

The meeting moved (William Darnley), seconded (Brian Sutcliffe) and unanimously adopted the audited accounts and the Treasurer’s report.

Chairman’s Remarks
Section chairman Tim Reynolds thanked the committee for their hard work and support during the year. We had hosted an interesting programme and survived financially despite a lower grant than that which had been requested.

In particular he thanked two members of the committee that were effectively stepping down from the committee at this AGM – Becki Scott and John Swift who had or were both returning to the UK. He also thanked William Darnley for stepping up to take over Becki’s role as secretary.

The Chairman also noted the sad loss of two very good friends and supporters of the section’s activities during 2017: Dr Ian Carson and Prof Istvan Marko.

The Chairman also extended a welcome to the newly elected committee members and the incoming Treasurer. He looked forward to our varied and interesting programme for the coming year.

Committee elections
Nominations for Section Secretary: William Darnley. Elected with no objections

Nominations for ordinary committee members: Jane Downing and David Terrell. Elected with no objections

The first meeting of the 2018 Executive Committee was held on 20 February 2018.

Closing remarks
The Treasurer said she had found a way to make a modest saving for the section each year, by switching to digital bank statements. This was greeted with enthusiasm by all members present.

All business being completed the meeting adjourned at 19:55 and the Annual Dinner commenced. You can access the draft Minutes of the 2018 AGM here. These minutes will be presented to the AGM of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Belgium Section in 2019 for approval.

RSC Belgium 2017 AGM report

The section's Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on Friday 10 February 2017 at Les Amis Dinent Restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem at 19h30 and was followed by the section's Annual Dinner from 20h00. The meeting opened at 19:30 with nine members present but a further ten members, who were unable to attend the AGM in person, had asked the Chairman to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required thus achieving our quorum.

Following recording of apologies received, the minutes of our previous AGM of 15 January 2016 were approved with no corrections.  The section secretary, Becki Scott, then gave the Committee Report on the Section’s 2016 Activities. During the year the section organised seven public events, one Saturday social excursions, two schools events and the Chemistry Challenge. Total section membership stood at 133 – a net increase of one over the year.

Among highlights of the year, reported by Becki, were the Café Chimique on the changing public perceptions of chemistry, Andrew Hanson’s series of colourful demonstration lectures for schools and the public in March, a lively stand-up comedy science show by Dr Jack Heal, and a guided tour of Namur led by Sarah Strange. The Chemistry Challenge competition attracted good levels of participation with prizes given out at Jack Heal’s event in October. Feedback had been received from Cardiff University that Mr Rhodri Evans (the second recipient of the Norman Lloyd scholarship) had performed well in his first year. The 2016-2017 recipient had just been named as Jessica Powell. The report was unanimously approved.

Section Finances

Outgoing section treasurer Rita Woodward presented the 2016 financial report and accounts. On the 1st January 2016, the net assets of the RSC Belgium Section were €6350 approx. The Annual Grant from RSC UK for 2016 had been €6200, less than the requested amount. Expenditure for the year was significant, but less than the previous year. With careful management the deficit for the year was only €440 approx. The committee aims to keep our account balances at around €7000, due to Belgian regulations where the section officers are responsible for any deficit. A grant for 2017 activities of €7000 will be requested from HQ. The section wished to thank immediate past president Prof Dominic Tildesley who covered many of his own expenses during his visit to the section. The accounts had been audited by the auditor Ralph Palim. The meeting unanimously adopted the audited accounts and the Treasurer’s Report.

The Treasurer expressed her gratitude to Ralph Palim and announced that he had agreed to be appointed as auditor for the section accounts for 2017.

Chairman’s Remarks

Section chairman Tim Reynolds thanked the committee for their hard work and support during a rather difficult year. The section had hosted an interesting programme and survived financially despite a lower grant than requested. With the visit of immediate past president, Prof Dominic Tildesley, the section maintained its tradition of hosting the RSC presidents.

The chairman thanked the three committee members who were stepping down and acknowledged their many years of service on the committee: Brian Sutcliffe (4 years), Ian Carson (11 years), David Terrell (27 years). It is hoped that David can be co-opted on to the committee for the coming year. Thanks weer also given to Rita Woodward who is stepping down as Treasurer. The Chairman also extended a welcome to the newly elected committee members and the incoming Treasurer and looked forward to a varied and interesting programme for the coming year.

Committee elections

Following elections the RSC Belgium Executive Committee for 2017 has the following membership: 

Elected members
Mr. Tim Reynolds (Chair)
Ms. Julie Tuppeny (Treasurer)
Dr. Becki Scott (Secretary)
Prof. Bob Crichton
Mr. William Darnley
Mr. John Swift
Mrs. Rita Woodward

Co-opted members
Ms. Jane Downing
Dr. David Terrell

The co-opted members were confirmed at the first meeting of the executive committee on 7 March 2017.

Closing remarks
Bob Crichton noted that the new structure of taking the demo lectures to the respective schools appeared to work better than the previous structure whereby a single location was found for the demo lectures and the students were transported to the venue. It was agreed that this approach will be continued as far as possible.

Special thanks were made to Dr Ian Carson for the enormous amount of work he has done for the section during his years of service. He was especially thanked for his help in arranging the very successful travelling demo lectures to schools.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 19h55 and was followed by the 2017 Annual Dinner of the RSC Belgium section.

RSC Belgium 2016 AGM report

The section's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Dinner took place at Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem on the evening of Friday 15 January 2016. The meeting opened at 19:35 with 10 members and 1 co-opted committee member. In addition sixteen members who were unable to attend the AGM had asked the Chairman to act as their proxy for the meeting if a vote was required. This enabled a working quorum for the meeting to be obtained under our section rules.

Following approval of the minutes of the previous AGM that took place on 16 January 2015 section Secretary Becki Scott presented the Committee Report on the Section’s 2015 Activities.

2015 Highlights 
During the year the section organised five public events, two Saturday social excursions, and a visit from the RSC's CEO: Robert Parker. Total section membership stood at 132 – a net increase of six over the year.

Among highlights of the year were the Café Chimique on Climate Change, Prof Avril MacDonald’s series of demonstration lectures for schools and the public in February, a lively demonstration lecture by Prof Sir John Holman and two guided tours: one of the Waterloo Battlefield in May and the other of the WWI front lines in September. The 2015 Chemistry Challenge competition had attracted increased participation with the prizes given out at Peter Atkins’ event in October.

Feedback had been received from Cardiff University that Ms Dale Lyons (the first recipient of our Norman Lloyd scholarship) had performed exceptionally well in her first year and the next recipient had been selected: Rhodri Evans.

Financial aspects
Rita Woodward presented the 2015 financial report and accounts. In general, 2015 had been a good year for schools events. The section made a net deficit of just over 1200 euros with a remaining balance of c. 6000 euros. The committee aims to keep the account at around 7000 euros due to Belgian regulations meaning that the section officers are responsible for any deficit. A future grant of 9000 euros will be requested from HQ. The accounts had been signed off by the auditor Ralph Palim. Ralph had also a greed to continue as auditor for the section.

Our Chairman, Tim Reynolds, thanked the committee for their hard work and support during the year. He highlighted the “Fantastic Plastic” events that had been taken to the schools, rather than all the schools visiting a set location. This had proven extremely successful and was something the section is hoping to repeat with Andrew Hanson’s “Colour is Fun” events in March 2016. The Chairman thanked Ian Carson for his input, hard work, and organisation with these events. Ian also thanked UCL, Fabio, and BSB for their help with the chemicals etc used in the “Fantastic Plastic” talks. Tim went on to report that John Holman’s talk had also proved to be a very popular event. He also acknowledged that the section had a disappointing end to the year, with the cancellation of two events due to the security situation in Brussels. He went on to say that a good programme was coming together for 2016 and he thanked all members for their continued support of the section.

Election
Following elections the RSC Belgium Executive Committee for 2016 has the following membership: Mr Tim Reynolds (Chairman), Mrs Rita Woodward (Treasurer), Dr Becki Scott (Secretary), Prof Bob Crichton (elected committee member), Prof Brian Sutcliffe (elected committee member), Dr David Terrell (elected committee member), Mr John Swift (elected committee member, and Dr Ian Carson (elected committee member).

The first meeting of the new Executive will be on 17 February 2016 where co-opted members will be confirmed.

International issues
Bob Crichton brought to the attention of members the proposed regulations of the RSC's Outreach Working Group (OWG) which will affect the way international sections operate. Prof David Evans of the Beijing section who sits on the OWG had approached the Belgium section committee for their opinion and feedback on the proposed regulation changes. The section felt that the move to restrict the amount of the budget spent on outreach to 50% could be very limiting to the range of activities which we undertook. The discussions at the OWG indicated that all local section representatives were opposed to the changes. It is felt that these changes will undermine the work of the individual sections. We have also been asked to clarify the numbers of members and non-members attending events. This is a worrying precedent because many of our events have a large non-member attendance. Many local sections rely on the support of volunteers.

Tim, as the Chair of the International Steering Group, will communicate directly with HQ and the networks over this issue.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 19:58. The AGM was followed by the 2016 Annual Dinner (see above) of the RSC Belgium section.