Chemistry Challenge 2023 results announced

The results of the RSC Belgium Chemistry Challenge 2023 were announced at our event on 28 September with Dr John O’Donoghue at the British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren. This year the Challenge resumed its usual ‘in-schools’ format after two years as a virtual event due to the COVID pandemic and BSB students claimed the majority of the prizes!

For the 2023 Challenge, seven schools took part (four European Schools and three International Schools) with a total of 74 students participating. This was a most encouraging number, but still under pre-COVID levels. We look forward to increased numbers for the 2024 edition of the Challenge.

As ever, the Challenge was designed to test students’ chemical knowledge and initiative. This year most students found Section A questions particularly taxing apart from some True/False questions.

The RSC Belgium Chemical Challenge has three sections:

- A chemistry multiple choice paper (Section A)

- A structured questions on chemistry (Section B), and

- A 'Thinking Matters' paper that is not chemistry based (Section C)

The top results were as follows:

Section A - Multiple choice

First prize for this section was won by Andrei Vascan from BSB who received a €50 award.

In joint second place were Hanseo Lee (far left below) and Annette Liflander (right below) also from BSB who each won €25 and, making a clean sweep for BSB, the third prize of €10 went to Kerem Teker (left below) from BSB.

Section B - Structured questions

In this section the first prize of €50 was awarded also won by Andrei Vascan of BSB with Laura Bartelloni (pictured right below) and Marianne Moody from BSB both picking up second prizes of €25. A third prize of €10 were awarded to Fanziska Vogel (left below) also of BSB.

Section C - Thinking Matters

Breaking the trend in this section, the top prize of €50 went to Melinda Koch of European School 1 in Luxembourg (ESL1) with Marianne Moody also claiming a €50 prize for BSB.

In second place was Alec Muller (pictured left above) of BSB winning him €25 and two third prizes worth €10 each were awarded to Annette Liflander and Aimee Willey (right above) both from BSB.

The Keith Price Prize

With a first prize in both Section A and Section B, this year's Keith Price Prize was claimed by Andrei Vascan (pictured below with RSC Belgium chair Prof Bob Crichton), who received an additional €100.

Well done to everyone who took part in this year's Chemistry Challenge! Every student that entered the competition receives a certificate of participation. And, of course, we will be running the Challenge again in 2024 and look forward to further widening participation!

First Norman Lloyd Scholar's First Class First Year

The first recipient of the Dr Norman C Lloyd scholarship established by RSC Belgium at Cardiff University has now finished her first year. And she has passed the year with flying colours!

Dale Lyons (right) received the scholarship for 2014/2015 to help her in the first year of a four year Chemistry with a year in industry (MChem) degree programme. She is looking forward to her year in industry which she hopes will help her to decide which career path to take after her studies. Dale's favourite module in year one has been Solid State Chemistry.

Dales says that receiving the scholarship "has made a massive difference.  I have been able to buy textbooks rather than wait for them to be available in the library which has helped a lot with revision. Having the scholarship has motivated me throughout the year to do well and eased some of the pressure in terms of worrying about money.  Thank you so much."

Clearly the support of the scholarship has been very useful and Dale has received a first-class honours for her first year of study at Cardiff. Well done Dale!

In the Autumn a new first year student will been selected to receive the 2015/2016 scholarship.

The scholarship

The Norman Lloyd scholarship was set up by RSC Belgium in collaboration with Norman’s family and the university in memory of our old friend and supporter Norman Lloyd. Norman was himself a student at an institution that is now part of the university. The funds raised provide an annual scholarship of £1,000 for an undergraduate student, usually in their first year of study, at the Cardiff School of Chemistry.

You can find out more about the Cardiff University scholarship here including how to donate to the fund.

First Norman C Lloyd Scholarship announced

RSC Belgium is proud to announce that the first recipient of the Dr Norman C. Lloyd Scholarship at Cardiff University has been selected. Ms Dale Lyons hails from Swansea and started her BSc degree in Chemistry at the end of September this year.

Pictured below with Prof Ruedi Allemann, Head of the School of Chemistry at Cardiff (left), and Dr Chris Morley, Director of Teaching and Learning at Cardiff, Dale said: “I’m so happy, pleased and honoured to have been awarded this scholarship. It has made me even more determined to succeed well in my Chemistry degree and do my best throughout the year.”

“I will put the scholarship towards my fees for this year and also use it to buy some of the chemistry books I will require. This will be a great help to me as it has surprised me how the cost of everything adds up so quickly and I can now get all the books and resources I require which will be vital for my studying, hopefully helping me achieve a good grade,” she continues.

“I would like to thank you so much for you generosity and kindness as this scholarship will really make a big difference for me. It was such a wonderful surprise to find out that I had been awarded it. It has not only eased some of my financial concerns but has made me more determined to do well in my degree and make the most of every opportunity that becomes available to me. I cannot wait to start my studies of chemistry at Cardiff University. Thank you,” concludes Dale.

I am sure you will all join Norman's wife Setsuko and the rest of his family and friends in wishing Dale every success in her studies at Cardiff. We look forward to hearing about her progress over the coming year.

The scholarship

The Norman Lloyd scholarship was set up by RSC Belgium in collaboration with Norman’s family and the university in memory of our old friend and supporter Norman Lloyd. Norman was himself a student at an institution that is now part of the university. The funds raised provide an annual scholarship of £1,000 for an undergraduate student, usually in their first year of study, at the Cardiff School of Chemistry.

If you would like to donate to the fund follow this link. More information on the scholarship can be found here.

Crowds and Prizes at Emsley talk

Dr John Emsley's lecture on 'A Healthy, Wealthy, Sustainable World' through chemistry attracted well over 70 members and friends to the British School of Brussels on the evening of Monday 19 September. The event was also the venue for presentation of prizes to students who scored well in the section's recent Chemistry Challenge competition.

John Emsley (right) is a champion of chemistry and his talk was based around his new book of the same name that was specifically written for International Year of Chemistry 2011 and describes the importance of chemistry in everyday life, the benefits that chemical science currently brings to society, and how this can continue on a truly sustainable basis.

“The world stands at a crossroads,” said John. “But what route to the future should we take?” A route to a sustainable society beckons John suggests, but requires a significant shift from a material world founded on fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, to one where materials are derived from biomass. “A great deal of emphasis on sustainability is solely on energy and fuels, but there is much more to it,” explained John. “And chemistry is vital to enable the transition to a bio-based society.”

Student prizes
But a key requirement to do this is more young people studying science and engineering. “Chemistry and the other sciences rely heavily on young people with vision and energy. This is the vital resource that we need to tap into if society wants a truly sustainable future,” John concluded.

RSC Belgium is playing its part in engaging with school students through a variety of initiatives including its recent Chemistry Challenge competition. This tough paper-based test of knowledge and initiative was devised by Rita Woodward and split into three sections: a chemistry multiple choice paper, structured questions on chemistry, and a 'Thinking Matters' paper that was not chemistry based.

Prizes were awarded to top performers in each section with the winners drawn from the British School of Brussels (BSB), International School of Brussels (ISB), St. Johns International School and the European Schools at Ixelles and Uccle. Some of the winners recieved their cash prizes and cerificates from section chair Prof. Bob Crichton at the John Emsley lecture (see above).

Keith Price Prize
The best overall entry in the two chemistry sections was from Krithika Swaminathan (pictured left) a studnet at at St. Johns school. Krithika will be the first recipient of the Keith Price Prize established in memory of one of RSC Belgium's founding members who died earlier this year.

Krithika and her family have recently left Belgium for Michigan in the USA, but the section hopes to keep in touch with her. Well done to Krithika and all the students who entered our 2011 Chemistry Challenge!

Look out for the 2012 edition!