Allow me to congratulate you for receiving this award. For you, what does it mean to foster chemistry in Europe and the goals of EuChemS?
HF: Thank you for your recognition! Chemistry contributes greatly to the wealth of nations: i.e. new pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, new materials, functional polymers etc, but may also have various, though often indirect, problematic consequences, i.e. health risks, misuse, environmental impacts, in Europe and globally. As eco/toxicological effects are commonly following the Paracelsian rule “Everything is poison, and nothing without poison, the dose alone determines whether a thing is not a poison”, after the tremendous rise of the industrial production/release of chemicals since the second half of the past century, our societies as a whole must confront – more than in the past century – the latter (entropic) challenge.
RP: Thank you very much for that, and heartfelt thanks to the wonderful EuChemS family for granting me this award. The goals of the organisation are very dear to me. I think we have tried very hard to show that we can build strength by working together, by celebrating our differences while growing in inclusivity. The responsibility to help develop young chemists and fresh talent is incredibly important, and has been incredibly rewarding: seeing EYCN go from strength to strength and working alongside such dedicated and talented young chemists has been a total joy for me.
Hartmut, you contributed greatly to making ethics important in European chemistry. What set you off on this path, what made you start this journey?
HF: This, in addition to the scientific-technological issue, is more of an ethical question, as the latter is the knowledge or theory of action according to the distinction between good and evil, the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal of all our actions according to Aristotle1. The persons I am grateful to have motivated me to pursue this path further were Roald Hoffmann (Chemistry Nobel Laureate 1981) with his lecture about C P Snow’s “The Two Cultures” in the late eighties at the Research School of Chemistry of the Australian National University, and the late Richard R. Ernst (Chemistry Nobel Laureate 1991), especially with his publication such as “The Responsibility of Scientists, a European View”2 and related lectures. Others have published extensively on similar subjects, e.g. the French philosopher Edgar Morin or the physicist-philosopher Kristin Shrader-Frechette amongst many others.
Robert, the 7th EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Liverpool – to the organisation of which you contributed greatly – was a great success, and it served as a blueprint for future ECCs. What are your key takeaways from it, and do you see the lessons learned in later ECCs?
RP: I wouldn’t like to claim anything unique about the Liverpool ECC, but I would say we had a fantastic scientific committee and great organisation. Putting EYCN central to everything, was important for me. And the social events were pretty good: dancing with Nobel laureates to a Beatles tribute band is not something I will forget quickly, nor standing with Pilar at the conference dinner in the Anglican cathedral and seeing the surprised look on faces when the organ started playing. Every ECC is different, and that is part of the delight: we have a joint responsibility to make every one magnificent in its own way, to showcase great European talent and celebrate success together.
Hartmut, you were the Chair of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology at the University of Bayreuth. What links do you see between your specific discipline, and ethical chemistry?
HF: A key purpose of this discipline is teaching young scientists to attain the knowledge to judge the environmental fate of chemical pollutants, how to develop and implement technologies to prevent levels in any environmental compartment acutely or chronically nocuous to humans and all other organisms, with the ultimate goal to achieve global environmental justice; in the latter respect, the ethical-empathic understanding of fairness as the “Theory of Justice”3 is consequential.
Robert, you have worked hard on preserving science collaboration between the EU and the UK since the UK’s departure from the EU. What is the state of play now in cooperation and research? Do you see any improvements?
RP: I think we do see improvement. The Royal Society of Chemistry, along with other organisations, pushed hard for association to Horizon Europe knowing that the community has benefitted extensively from previous programmes and when agreement was reached it was extremely good news. Going forward, I read that Patrick Vallance, the UK science minister, is seeking to explore greater association to the successor to EU’s Horizon Europe, currently known as Framework Programme 10, and we wait to see how that progresses. We know that working together enables productive collaborations to help us tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, from improving health to climate change.
Hartmut, what were your key experiences in founding of the EuChemS Working Party on Ethics in Chemistry? Did you face any major challenges, and what achievements you find the most important?
HF: In March 2003 I had the honour to hold the opening lecture entitled “Academic Environmental Research and Education: Why and How?” at the “Symposium on Environment and Universities in Europe” in Prague which was concluded by the Prague Declaration4 highlighting the responsibility of universities in promoting and facilitating sustainable chemistry. However, this declaration received little attention. Seven years later, in August 2010 at ECC3 in Nürnberg I had the pleasure to organize the symposium “Ethics, Chemistry and Education for the Environment” which also led to the foundation of the EuChemS Working Party “Ethics in Chemistry” in 2011. Following the publication on this symposium5, the creation of the EuChemS Course “Good Chemistry – Methodological, Ethical, and Social Implications” by the WP-member Jan Mehlich on the EuChemS e-Learning Platform was a key step in advancing the wider acceptance of such a module in the chemical curricula of some universities. Most recently, upon the initiative of Klaus Merz (Uni Bochum), a group of enthusiasts including representatives of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and the Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI) organized the online-symposium “Ethik der Chemie” with the goal to achieve the general implementation of such a module in the chemical curricula of most universities. More than twenty years after the Prague Declaration!
Robert, you championed the cause of Inclusion and diversity in EuChemS and in RSC. What progress do you see in this area, and where do you think that there is room to improve?
RP: I am keeping an eye on the RSC’s work in the area of Socio Economic Inclusion (SEI). The research so far has identified significant barriers in access and progression for individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds within the chemical sciences. It’s a complex area and quantitative data is limited but what seems to be emerging is that SEI is interconnected with other protected characteristics, with small changes in one variable leading to disproportionate effects on others. I will be interested to see what transpires as the project continues, specifically actionable recommendations.
There is also very good work taking place in the area of disability and accessibility with the Disability Landscape Report published in 2023 and the creation of an online disability hub for people working across the chemical sciences. It raises awareness that disability can take many forms – neurodivergence, mental health conditions, chronic illness as well as sensory and mobility impairments. It is also important that lab spaces are accessible and there is work taking place in that area as well, building a picture of what good practice looks like for making chemistry laboratories as accessible as possible to people with all forms of disability, health conditions and differences.
What is your message to the future generations of chemists: young students of chemistry, and early career chemists?
HF: My message to the future generations of chemists is to widen their skills to a more holistic view of chemistry as an ethically/socially relevant profession (formerly called “soft skill”), in addition to the “classical” intellectual scientific-mechanistic knowledge training – in view of the rising capabilities of AI.
RP: Keep an open mind and be curious. Be open to all, and welcome any type of collaboration – you never know what will come of it. Developing networks and making friends is vital for individual development, mental health and the development of the subject. Carry on being fabulous and develop a deep love of chemistry.
1Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics.
2 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 4434-4439
3 Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, 1971.
4 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 8482-8490
5 Hartmut, Frank. Ethics, Chemistry and Education for the Environment, 2010.
