2025 RSC Belgium AGM and Annual Dinner

The 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the RSC Belgium section took place on the evening of Friday 17 January 2025 at Les Amis Dînent in Wezembeek-Oppem. The AGM was followed by the section's Annual Dinner.

The meeting commenced at 19h41. Six section members were present: Rita Woodward, Julie Tuppeny, Tim Reynolds, Susan Schamp, Fabio Lucaccioni, and Robert Crichton. RSC member David Terrell was delayed by traffic and joined later.

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: Bruno Linclau, Steven De Feyter, Richard Green, Ari Koskinen, Wim De Borggraeve, Melissa Dunkle and Lance Smallshaw. In addition to these apologies from members, co-opted committee members, Jonathan Norris and Bo Dahlqvist, also sent their apologies.

As first business, the meeting moved (Rita Woodward), seconded (Fabio Lucaccioni), and unanimously adopted the minutes of the 2024 AGM with no corrections.

Committee Report on the Section’s 2024 Activities (Tim Reynolds – Secretary)

The Secretary, Tim Reynolds, presented his 2024 report.

“During 2024 RSC Belgium organised five public evening lectures (most of which were recorded and posted on our @RoySocChemBelgium YouTube channel) and a special celebration event to commemorate 10 years of our Norman Lloyd Scholarships at Cardiff University. In addition, we held our 2024 AGM, had a late summer social walk and talk around the Waterloo battlefield and organised our two annual school outreach events: the Chemistry Challenge and the Top of the Bench ‘European Eliminator’. Our tenth Norman Lloyd scholarship recipient enjoyed their first year at Cardiff University.

Our 2024 AGM and Annual Dinner was held on the evening of Friday 19 January at Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem. At the AGM Dr David Terrell was re-elected to the committee and we welcomed Prof Ari Koskinen as a new elected committee member. The other members of the 2024 committee were Bob Crichton (Chair), Tim Reynolds (Secretary), Fabio Lucaccioni (Treasurer), Rita Woodward, Julie Tuppeny and Susan Schamp. Dharmjeet Madhav was thanked for his contribution to the committee over the past two years.

During the year, your section committee met three times on 6 February, 6 March and 19 November.

Our 2024 programme kicked off on 7 March with a fascinating talk from Professor Marc Van Ranst on the COVID-19 and potential future pandemics. On 25 April Richard Adams gave us his views on Artificial Intelligence and on 23 May we welcomed RSC President Professor Gillian Reid to Brussels to talk to us about her view of the Future of the Chemical Sciences.

Our activities resumed on 10 September with a special ‘Celebration of Chemistry’ event to mark 10 years of our Norman Lloyd Scholarships at Cardiff University with presentations from Dr Tom Tatchell from Cardiff, RSC Belgium committee members and Norman’s family. During the year our tenth scholar had been named as Zarah Ahmed. The Scholarship initiative has been a great success but with the funds now almost spent it was decided, in consultation with Norman’s family and Cardiff University, to close the scheme and one final partial scholarship will be awarded for the 2024-25 academic year. We hope to hear the name of this eleventh and final scholarship soon.

On Sunday 22 September we enjoyed an entertaining and informative walk on the battlefield of Waterloo with military historian and author Jean-Philippe Tondeur. Our lecture programme continued with a talk from Professor Ricardo Louro on antimicrobial resistance on 15 October and on 20 November we welcomed well-known material scientist and broadcaster Professor Mark Miodownik from University College London to present his new book ‘It’s a Gas’. At this last event we were joined by Waterstones bookstore.

On Saturday 16 November we held our 2024 Top of the Bench competition at the British School of Brussels. This year seven teams from four schools (BSB, ISF, MIS and St Georges) participated and after a tight contest Team Solvay from St Georges were declared winners and will represent Belgium at the UK National finals on 22 March 2025 in Cardiff. Team Baekeland from BSB who won our 2023 TOTB eliminator represented Belgium section at the UK 2024 TOTB Grand Final that took place at Edinburgh Napier University on 16 March.

The results of our 2024 RSC Belgium Chemistry Challenge for individual school students were announced at our Celebration of Chemistry event on 10 September. This year ten schools took part with just over 100 students participating in total - a very encouraging number.

Our thanks as ever to Susan and Rita for developing the content for our educational activities and all the teachers and students who participated during the year.

Our YouTube channel continued to grow during the year with some 473 subscribers. Some of our ‘content’ is proving to be extremely popular. Our Top Three videos (as of Monday) are, as last year, at #3 Philip Ball with 1,566 views, in second spot Plasma-based CO2 conversion with 8,087 views, while Nick Lane remains top of the pops with a remarkable 24,915 views.

We aim to run a full programme of events during 2025 and look forward to seeing many members and friends during the year. Details of forthcoming events can always be found on the RSC Belgium blog.”

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

Financial Report for 2024

The treasurer, Fabio Lucaccioni, presented the 2024 financial report and accounts.

 “The 2024 financial statements have been prepared with revenues and expenditures classified according to categories predefined by the RSC Headquarters.

• Current Account Balance (Year-End 2024): € 3,407.43
• Net Expenses (Receipts minus Payments): -€ 2,391.62
• Savings Account Balance (Year-End 2024): € 4,519.97

During the summer, our banking partner (ING) erroneously issued a debit card linked to the RSC account to our Chair, 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. For clarity, this reimbursement has been backdated to 2024 to ensure that no discrepancies carry over into 2025.

The section’s total income for the year was € 7,415.51 with key income sources being the Grant from RSC Headquarters (€ 4,000.00), revenue from the Annual Dinner, and the Bank Error (reimbursement from Professor Crichton).

Total Expenditure for the year was € 9,790.43 with key expenses being on Lectures (€ 2,871.93 - seven lectures held with a total audience of approximately 200 attendees), the Chemistry Challenge and Workshops (€ 1,718.62 - activities involved over 60 students.), and the Bank Error (€ 2,873.81 - fully reimbursed by Professor Crichton).

Since the total annual income of the section is below £10,000.00, the accounts are not subject to external audit.”

The meeting moved (Tim Reynolds), seconded (Julie Tuppeny) and unanimously approved adoption of the Treasurer’s report.

Chair’s Remarks

The Chair, Prof Bob Crichton, thanked all members of the committee for their continuing hard work and support and looked forward to continuing success in the forthcoming years.

Bob said that he had enjoyed his six years as Chair but stressed the need to recruit younger members to the committee and help with section activities.

Election of committee members and section officers

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

Section Chair: Tim Reynolds

Section Secretary: Bob Crichton

Section Treasurer: Fabio Lucaccioni

Committee Members: Julie Tuppeny, Rita Woodward, Susan Schamp

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

Other committee members in mid-term are David Terrell and Ari Koskinen. At the first committee meeting of 2025 Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris will also be co-opted onto the committee.

Auditing arrangements

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

The meeting adjourned at 19h52.

From Gaming theory to Protein Structure Prediction - the 2024 Nobel Prize

On Tuesday 4 February 2025 our past Chair of the section, Professor Bob Crichton, FRSC, Emeritus Professor at the Universite Catholique de Louvain gave us an enlightening talk entitled 'How Gaming theory helped solve Protein Structure Prediction – an overview of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.'

In 1961 Chris Anfinsen demonstrated that the linear sequence of amino acids in the polypeptide chain of a protein contained all the information required to dictate its folding into a unique 3-dimensional structure. Since then, biochemists have been on a long quest to be able to predict the structure of a protein directly from its amino acid sequence.

The 2024 Nobel Chemistry prize recognised the pioneering work of Demis Hassabis and John Jumper who successfully used computing and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the structure of almost all known proteins. Bob's talk traced how this evolved, from the first determination of the 3D structure of myoglobin and haemoglobin by Kendrew and Perutz in 1962.

Demis Hassabis, at 13 already a chess grand master and in his teens a programmer and a games developer, used his experience with AI and neuroscience to develop AI models for popular board games (his company Deep Mind was sold to Google in 2014). He then directed his attention from 2017 into solving the protein folding problem with the AI programme Alpha Fold, and together with John Jumper they fundamentally transformed this into Alpha Fold2. By 2020 AlphaFold2 performed almost as well as X-ray crystallogra­phy in predicting protein structure.

At the end of the 1990s, David Baker (who received half of the 2024 Chemistry Nobel Prize), began to develop computer software, called Rosetta, that could predict protein structures. At the same time, the field of protein design – to create bespoke proteins with new functions - also took off, and Baker decided to use Rosetta to design a new protein, Top7, which, in 2023, was shown to have the structure that was predicted. Since 2020 he has used Alpha Fold2 to design a series of incredible new proteins.

Bob's talk was recorded and is now available on our dedicated YouTube channel and as an embedded video below.

It’s a Gas!

On the evening of Wednesday 20 November 2024, RSC Belgium welcomed well-known material scientist and broadcaster Professor Mark Miodownik from University College London to Belgium to talk to us about his new book ‘It’s a Gas’.

Subtitled ‘The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World’ Mark’s new book masterfully reveals an invisible world through his unique brand of scientific storytelling. Why are most gases invisible, odourless and tasteless? Why do some poison us and others make us laugh? And why do some explode while others are content just to make drinks fizzy? 

During the evening Mark took us back to those exhilarating – and often dangerous – moments when scientists were trying to work out exactly what they had discovered in the world of gases. His talk showed that gases are the formative substances of our modern world, each with its own weird and wonderful personality. Examples included how seventeenth-century laughing gas parties led to the first use of anaesthetics in surgery, and how gases made us masters of the sea (by huge steamships) and skies (via extremely flammable balloons). The talk revealed the immense importance of gases to modern civilisation.

A Financial Times Master of Science and chosen by The Times as one of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK, Mark is Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, where he is also Director of the Institute of Making. He is the author of the book Stuff Matters – a New York Times bestseller which won the Royal Society Winton Prize – and Liquid, which was shortlisted for the same prize. He presents BBC TV and radio programmes on science and engineering such as Everyday Miracles and How It Works.

The talk was in the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren, and was followed by a networking drinks reception with Waterstones Brussels bookshop in attendance allowing members and friends to purchase signed copies of some of Mark's books and have an informal chat with him.

Mark's talk was recorded and is now available on our dedicated YouTube channel and as an embedded video below.

Top of the Bench 2024 European Eliminator

On Saturday 16 November, the Royal Society of Chemistry Belgium Section held its annual Top of The Bench (TOTB) Competition to select a team of school students to represent the section in the UK National Finals in 2025. After a tough afternoon of competition the overall winner was Team Solvay from St. Georges International School in Luxembourg.

Our TOTB competition took place in the chemistry labs at The British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren with seven teams from four schools taking part. Teams Franklin and Goodenough represented the International School of Flanders (ISF), Teams Kwolek and Baekeland came from Montgomery International School (MIS), Teams Solvay and Hodgkin travelled up from St Georges, and BSB was represented by Team Curie.

Each team was composed of four students with two students from Year 9 UK (3rd year or Grade 8), one student from Year 10 UK (4th year or Grade 9), and one student from Year 11 UK (5th year or Grade 10). The competition itself was split into three parts: a 30 minute group challenge Chemistry Quiz involving creative thinking exercises; a 90 minute group practical activity; and finally age-appropriate individual multiple-choice quizzes with the students having 30-minutes to complete them.

All the teams enjoyed the competition and when the scores from the various elements were added up Team Solvay from St George’s (pictured above with RSC Belgium TOTB organiser Susan Schamp) were first with Team Curie (pictured below with Susan) from BSB second and Team Goodenough from ISF third. This year individual cups were awarded to all team members of the first and second placed teams.

Team Solvay will now be representing RSC Belgium in the UK National TOTB Final which will take place at Cardiff University on 22 March 2025.

The Cardiff competition will be the last TOTB UK Grand Final as the RSC is discontinuing the event. However, the Belgium section is looking to continue our own TOTB event, or a similar practical-orientated team competition, possibly with a modified team age profile that could help widen participation from schools in our area.

Our immense thanks to everyone who took part in the competition or were involved in the organisation of the competition. In particular to Susan who developed the competition elements with Rita Woodward and to Jonathan Norris for use of the labs at BSB.

Iron Age weapons join the fight against Antimicrobial resistance

On the evening of Tuesday 15 October, RSC Belgium welcomed Professor Ricardo Louro who is head of the Inorganic Biochemistry and the NMR laboratory at ITQB-NOVA – an interdisciplinary research and advanced training institute of NOVA University in Lisbon, Portugal - to talk to us about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is an emerging concern that is threatening to burst the antibiotic bubble that has kept us largely safe from bacterial infection for nearly eight decades since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming.

It is estimated that AMR directly caused over 1.2 million deaths globally in 2019 and was a contributing factor in just under 5 million more. Without immediate global action, AMR could lead directly to over 8.2 million deaths each year by 2050 overtaking cancer as the primary cause of death.

A new global initiative to tackle AMR was launched in September this year at the United Nations General Assembly. The UN commitment aims to strengthen efforts to combat AMR and sets important targets, such as cutting global AMR-related deaths by 10% by 2030 and developing national action plans. Additional goals include reducing the use of antibiotics in agriculture and ensuring that low- and middle-income countries receive adequate financial support to fight AMR.

Professor Louro presented the problem, described current antibiotic targets and argued that scientific discoveries are uncovering new targets that have the potential to preserve our protection from bacterial infections into the future. In particular he focused on the emergence of  “Iron age weapons” that can help us to fight AMR by interfering with the iron metabolism of the target bacteria.

The talk, which took place at the British School of Brussels in Tervuren, was followed by a lively Q&A session that extended into our usual networking social event afterwards.

YouTube Video

Ricardo's excellent talk on AMR was recorded and can be found on our dedicated Youtube channel or as an embedded video below. Enjoy!

Waterloo Rediscovered

On the morning of Sunday 22 September 2024 RSC members and friends enjoyed an entertaining and informative walk on the battlefield of Waterloo with military historian and author Jean-Philippe Tondeur.

Our party met at the Ferme du Caillou on the Chausse de Bruxelles to the south of the battlefield. This building was where Napoleon stayed on the night before the battle and was his last headquarters. This ancient farmhouse is now a museum and here Jean-Philippe described the events leading up to the battle and some insights on Napoleon’s strategy and battle plans.

The party then moved onto the Ferme de la Belle Alliance. Built in 1765, by 1815, the property was a tavern and despite being at the centre of the French lines suffered relatively little from the battle. The main building (pictured below, behind the RSC party) and the annexed stable escaped destruction, although its original outbuildings were ruined.

In Germany, the battle is known as "Belle-Alliance Sieg", the victory of Belle-Alliance, rather than the Battle of Waterloo. The Prussians observed the coincidence between this place name and the political and military alliance that brought down the Napoleonic Empire.

The tavern was also where Napoleon was mainly located during the battle and the place that the two victorious ‘allied’ commanders, Wellington and Blucher, met at the end of the day’s fighting. Today the Belle-Alliance is owned by Jean-Philippe.

Jean-Philippe then took the party along a footpath, le Chemin de Plancenoit, to describe the main elements of the battle with an excellent  view over the battlefield site. It is striking how small the main battlefield is considering the number of soldiers involved.

To complete our excursion most of our party then proceeded to the Maximus Waterloo restaurant on the Route du Lion, in the shadow of the famous Butte du Lion memorial, for a relaxing lunch.

Further reading

Our thanks to Jean-Philippe for his talk. The RSC Belgium party found his descriptions really interesting with new insights and anecdotes that added colour to the Waterloo ‘story’ and helped us understand better what was really going on during the day of the battle.

If you would like to read more about the battle, Jean-Philippe's publications ‘Les Éditions de la Belle-Alliance’ on the battle and the 1815 campaign are available to purchase. 

Les éditions de La Belle Alliance were born in 1998 and are a collaboration between Jean-Philippe and illustrators Patrice Courcelle and Bernard Coppens. All three wanted to work on an approach to the Battle of Waterloo that was more detailed and, above all, more critical and analytical than what had gone before.

Ten Years of Norman Lloyd Scholarships Celebrated

On the evening of Tuesday 10 September RSC Belgium held a special ‘Celebration of Chemistry’ event in the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB) to celebrate two of our initiatives that aim to support young people studying chemistry and to deepen their interest in the chemical sciences as a career.

The event was the prize giving event for our 2024 Chemistry Challenge initiative (see separate blog for the results and prize winners) for students in their penultimate year in high school and also marked ten years of our Norman Lloyd scholarships at Cardiff University. The scholarships are awarded to a first-year student studying chemistry at Cardiff.

After the prize awards ceremony for the 2024 Chemistry Challenge RSC Belgium, Chair Professor Bob Crichton described the Norman Lloyd Scholarships and how they came about.

The scholarships were established in 2014 in memory of Dr Norman Lloyd, who was one of RSC Belgium’s founding members and an active and enthusiastic supporter of the section’s activities. The scholarship fund was established following the immense generosity of Norman’s friends, family and colleagues at Dow Corning, where he was Director of Research for Europe until his retirement in 1992. 

In consultation with Norman’s family, it was decided to approach Cardiff University to establish the Dr Norman C. Lloyd Scholarships to provide an annual scholarship of £1,000 for an undergraduate student, in their first year of study and from a relatively deprived or underrepresented background, in the Cardiff School of Chemistry.

Bob outlined Norman’s illustrious career and his many valuable contributions to the section’s activities both scientific and social.

RSC Belgium secretary Tim Reynolds then presented the ten scholars that the fund had supported from 2014 to 2024 highlighting their appreciation of the scholarship’s support and its impact on their  experience at university and beyond.

Norman’s daughter Mitchko (pictured above with Bob, Norman’s widow Setsuko. and our speaker from Cardiff, Dr Tom Tatchell) responded on behalf of the family and thanked everyone who had contributed to the fund. She felt it had been a very fitting tribute to her father.

Chemistry at Cardiff

Our main speaker at the event was Dr Tom Tatchell who is Education & Students Manager at the School of Chemistry at Cardiff University and talked about the impact of the Scholarships at Cardiff.

Tom expanded his presentation to cover the general area of chemistry and education, the current chemical sciences job market, and the changing face of chemistry with respect to future trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc. He talked about studying chemistry, how it has changed from being very “bench” focussed to now needing other complementary skills like management, business and languages.

Earlier in the day Tom had visited St Johns International School in Waterloo to talk to students about careers in and further study of the chemical sciences.

After the talks, a drinks reception was held for all attendees.