The EYCN has had a remarkably active and impactful last few months, with numerous events and initiatives that have solidified its position as a cornerstone of the younger community of European chemistry. From the Delegate Assembly to innovative multimedia projects, 2024 has been a testament to the variety, creativity, and dedication of early-career chemists across Europe. In the following sections, we want to give everybody an overview of the EYCN highlights of 2024 so far.
The year began with the Delegate Assembly (DA) held in London, hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry – a pivotal event that is fundamental in establishing and maintaining collaboration amongst our different member societies. (We have covered our DA extensively in our previous contribution to EuChemS Magazine Plu). The next in-person event we want to highlight is the German Young Chemists’ Network Spring Symposium 2024 in Ulm, which showed very strong participation from EYCN this year. This symposium, renowned for its vibrant scientific discussions and networking opportunities stemming from, for example, the ongoing exchange program with the American Chemical Society, was a highlight for many young researchers.
The young Physical Chemists (yPC) of the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry also welcomed several EYCN members in Aachen at the annual Bunsen Conference 2024 shortly thereafter. Further member society events were also supported by the EYCN, such as, most recently, the Spring Meeting of the Young Scientists’ Polish Chemical Society (YSPCS). The EYCN’s participation in these events underscored the importance of integrating young chemists into broader scientific dialogues and provided attendees with invaluable opportunities to present their research, attend workshops, and engage with leading experts in various fields of chemistry.
In addition to these events, the EYCN also launched two exciting multimedia initiatives. The first was the video series “Eurospectives – European Perspectives Unravelled!”, aiming to highlight the diverse experiences and perspectives of young chemists across Europe. Complementing this video series, the “EYCN Career Compass” LinkedIn post series was launched. The EYCN’s digital outreach continued with the release of new podcast episodes featuring discussions with the former IUPAC president Javier Garcia Martinez, and diving into science policy and science regulations with Jovana Milić (a fomer EYCN Delegate) and Marton Kottmayer (Science Policy Officer at EuChemS). Finally, EYCN organized several “Instagram takeovers” of member societies.
The EYCN also has exciting events planned for the rest of 2024: The Photochimica Competition – an annual competition in which young chemists submit photographs, trying to capture the beauty of chemistry, and another significant event that we are excited about: our Early-Career Program at ECC9 in Dublin! With this, we conclude our recap and look forward to reaching out again in the future to once again answer the question: What’s new from EYCN?
(This text has been re-evaluated with the help of AI tools. However, any text generated by means of them has been verified by the authors themselves, to ensure integrity and correctness of the content.)
