On Tuesday June 13, the event ‘The State of Separation Science in the UK’ took place at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) jointly organised by the Community of Analytical Science (CAMS), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Separation Science Group, and The Chromatographic Society (ChromSoc).
The meeting, aimed to answer one overarching question: Is Separation Science in the UK on life support?, brought together UK and international experts in separation science to analyse the current state of the field in the UK and its future needs. “It is fantastic to see so many people both here in person, and online, which has shown that the sort of provocative title that we gave was exactly the right thing to do and the response it stimulated in our analytical community has been tremendous. I am looking forward to the ideas from the workshop and being able to condense these into a compelling narrative for funding which we can share with UKRI, professional societies and our analytical community in the UK and Ireland” Melissa Hanna-Brown, CAMS Chair said.
The morning presentations offered an insight into where separation science is now from a variety of different UK expert perspective from across Academia, Industry and Recruitment, as well as input from international researchers as why the separation science communities are thriving in their countries. In the afternoon, attendees took part in a workshop to discuss targeted questions to identify problems, mind-map ideas, and develop solutions to improve the state of Separation Science in the UK.
Separation Science is a frontline measurement tool in academia and across the chemical and bio industries, Prof. Schoenmakers, Professor Analytical Chemistry, University of Amsterdam who spoke at the event said, “If you don’t pay attention to analytical chemistry, this life, it can be very polluted; your food is not safe, your healthcare is mediocre. We cannot overestimate our importance of analytical sciences for industry and society and somehow it doesn’t come across and all this discussion today is why aren’t we taking it more seriously. It’s that message that we have to bring across,” he continued.
Outcomes and feedback from this event will help to identify specific actions that the Separation Science community can take now to address future needs, while highlighting longer term recommendations and requirements for the field with a view to encourage policy dialogue with funding and other bodies.
For further information about the event please contact CAMS Secretariat.
Visit CAMS, RSC Separation Science Group and ChromSoc for more information about these organisations.
