Author Archive

RSC Desktop Seminars with Brazilian Chemical Society Organic Chemistry Division

04 Aug 2020

RSC Desktop Seminars in Organic Chemistry with the Brazilian Chemical Society 2020 are an initiative from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Brazilian Chemical Society to bring cutting-edge research directly to you!

Covid-19 has exposed us to a new reality where the virtual world is much more important than before. In order to keep our students engaged at the frontiers of Organic Chemistry, we have organized a weekly webinar series that is a joint collaboration between the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the Organic Chemistry Division of the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ). It is an alternative way to share work and interact with potential collaborators.

The sections will alternate between Brazilian and international speakers, in some cases with the opportunity for a selected Brazilian early career researcher to engage with the audience by presenting their recent independent career developments.

Program 24 September 2020 | 11:30 (BRT) | 15:30 (BST)

11:30 Introductions and welcome
11:35 Early Career presentation with Q&A
11:55 Main Presentation with Q&A
12:55 Closing remarks

Registration: https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/45400/rsc-desktop-seminars-with-brazilian-chemical-society-organic-chemistry-division-24-sept

RSC Desktop Seminars in Organic Chemistry with the Brazilian Chemical Society will happen every week at 11:30 (BRT) and we will keep you updated about the registration links and program. We already have confirmed the following speakers and dates.

NEXT Speakers

29 September 2020

Registration: https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/45400/rsc-desktop-seminars-with-brazilian-chemical-society-organic-chemistry-division-29-sept

1 October 2020 (Exceptionally at 15:00 PM at BRT)

Closing webinar. This one will not be recorded

History of the Series

Those who registered received a link of the recording. Check your e-mail!

4 August 2020

11 August 2020

18 August 2020

25 August 2020

3 September 2020

10 September 2020

17 September 2020

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PAN-NANO-2020: a unique event before the crisis

23 Jun 2020

The second Pan-American Nanotechnology Conference

PAN-NANO-2020 happened Mar 4-7, 2020 in Águas de Lindoia-SP, just before the Covid-19 crisis struck Brazil. During that week, we were aware of the situation spreading in the world, but Brazil had just a few cases and social distancing was only a distant idea. Águas de Lindoia has hot springs where people normally go to relax and is attractive due its mild climate. The organizers prepared for the uncertainties (with masks and alcohol-gel), and around 200 attendees, in total, were present. This conference was a joint effort between several engaged institutions with common interests and the same continent, the Americas.

Being “Pan-American”, related to North, South and Central America collectively, the organizers used their common scientific subject, NANO, to create the PAN-NANO event. The purpose was to develop useful and sustainable applications of nanotechnologies throughout the Pan-American region by understanding nanotechnology and nanoparticles’ behavior in biological, chemical and environmental systems.

The Royal Society of Chemistry had already sponsored its first edition, and the journals Nanoscale, Nanoscale Advances, Nanoscale Horizons and Environmental Science: Nano saw a good opportunity to get involved with a such variety of communities, which include Physicists, Chemists and Engineers.

RSC supported Prof Rebecca Kapler (U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee), who gave a plenary talk on Interactions at the Nano-Bio Interface Across Biological Systems. The talk showed the significant variation in these interactions due to differences in the biological characteristics of organisms and the environments where they are found. She highlighted how it is necessary to probe the molecular interactions that occur at the interface of the nanomaterial and the places where the material comes in contact with the organism. In addition, she discussed the molecular interaction of nanomaterials across species. On the same day, RSC promoted a special Meet the Editor event, in a “Pint-of-Science” like format, to attract the audience and encourage them to have a beer and relax during the discussions.

Elizabeth and Rebecca gave an overview of RSC, promoted the main RSC journals in the area, as well databases and books. Finally, Prof Rebecca gave general tips on how to submit and write, giving inside information on the article life cycle. Some slides supported the talk, but the audience got involved in a vivid discussion on publication motivation; Editors’ expectations; and the importance of showing novelty, comparing with the existing work and including backup citations.

Finally, at the end of the conference, RSC awarded two poster prizes, each consisting of £100 book voucher and certificate from Nanoscale and Environmental Science: Nano. We would like to congratulate the winners shown below receiving their prizes at the closing ceremony:

Poster prize winners with Prof Debora Frigi Rodrigues (Houston University), the winners Kayla Kurtz (University of Rhode Island) and Izaac Sit (University of California, San Diego), and also Profs Rebecca Klaper (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Isabel C. Escobar (University of Kentucky) and Ademar Benevolo Lugão (IPEN/CNEN).

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Wrapping up BRAZIL 2019: Theory, Materials, Microfluidics, She/Her, Natural Products and SBQ-Sul in 2019

30 Mar 2020

Copacabana Beach landscape during the 2019-2020 New Year´s Eve

The year of 2019 left us some time ago. In the Southern Hemisphere, end of the year celebrations are different: outdoors, hot and part of the summer holiday season. The Northern Hemisphere still finds it difficult to understand that if it is summer, it is our time of the year to take big holidays. As yet, I will tell you a secret: the water spins around in the sink in an counterclockwise direction. For us, down here, it is time to wrap up our thoughts, hope for a better year and begin the next one slowly (always keeping an eye on Carnival).

So, to show you all how we closed the year, here are our last events of 2019.

Similar to at the Brazilian Chemical Society Meeting in 2019, where a Women’s Hub was created and a prize named after Prof Dr Vanderlan Bolzani awarded, sections discussing Women in Science issues were held at the BrazMedChem symposium and at the 20^th CBCat. Discussion included numbers from Academia (data from CNPq) to show how women are progressing as whole in Chemistry (or Science) but are not achieving as many higher decision-making positions as men. The big question: why is that? There are multiple answers and still lots of discussion to be had.

Prof. Marisa Orth gave a nice overview at the CBCat with numbers from a CNPq database and Prof Heloise Pastore moderated a friendly discussion with the audience. One thing was obvious: men have to take part in this as an important agent to change the future. These numbers corroborate with our recently launched Report on Gender Bias in Publishing.

Later on in September, in a different location (Federal University of Pelotas-UFPel-RS), our recent recipient of the JAAS Lectureship, Prof Marcia Mesko, with the RSC Brazil office’s support, coordinated a panel discussion totally dedicated to diversity and inclusion of women, the “She/Her on Science”, with lectures and panel discussions dedicated to the subject.

With experienced and young female researchers in the discussions [Profs Drs Márcia Barbosa (UFRGS), Maysa Furlan (CAPES and UNESP), Ethel Wilhelm, Lucielli Savegnago, Márcia Mesko, Mariana Vieira, Rosélia Spanevello (all from UFPel), Laura Fonseca (UFSM), Vanderlan Bolzani (UNESP), Fernanda Staniscuaski (UFRGS), Hellen Stulzer (UFSC), Marina Prigol (UNIPAMPA), Paola Mello (UFSM), Marina Trevisan (UFRGS)], the subjects varied between challenges for young female scientists in the South, parenthood in science, gender equity, awards’ impact, institutional action on gender inclusion and perspectives from new young female talent. We still have a long way to go, but those discussions, happening over and over again, will wake up the world, and especially will wake up women to be present and active in discussions and acts. Support to get support, that is how things change, little by little, grain by grain!.

Finally the year ended with five meetings in a row. The RSC office supported them in different ways and the organizers did a very good job in raising awareness of the RSC and our journals. The Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) organized its annual meeting, the XVIII Brazilian MRS, involving the community of materials research. It was held in Balneário Camboriú-SC, September 22-26th, 2019. Parallel sections with varied subjects covering Physics to Chemistry, mixed with Engineering, had the participation of several Latin American Materials Research Societies. RSC promoted J. Mat. Chem. A, J. Mat. Chem. B, J. Mat. Chem. C, Mat. Horizons, Nanoscale and Nanoscale Horizons and their respective prizes and lectureships there. As a pre-meeting promotion, the RSC organzied a Virtual issue on Materials with authors from Latin America.

Cristie Luis Kugelmeier-UFSCar (Soft Matter + Biomaterials Sci + Molecular Systems and Design & Engineering £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Advances in steel metallurgy and applications”;

Maya Alencar Medeiros-UFSCar (ChemSci £100 book voucher) for her poster on “Materials and Fabrication Processes for Aeronautic and Space Applications”;

Danilo Waismann Losito-UNIFESP (Nanoscale + Nanoscale Horinzons + Nanoscale Advances £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Molecular Sieves: synthesis and applications”;

Julia Andrea Carpenter-ETH, Switzerland (J. Mat. Chem. A, J. Mat. Chem. B, J. Mat. Chem. C, £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Biological, biopolymer-based and bio-inspired materials”; from left to right

The Microfluidics Workshop that celebrated the long term collaboration between Brazil and Argentina happened in Cordoba, Argentina.

Then the XX Brazilian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry was held in the Northeast of the country, João Pessoa-PB, where we also provided RSC lanyards as promotional items. The community is broad, varying from calculations for Inorganic/Organic Chemistry and data handling to Analytical Chemistry, in addition to pure Physical Chemistry.

As one of the last events we attended in 2019, the 7th Brazilian Conference on Natural Products was held at a military facility-IME. The Brazilian Army is well known for its intense research on flora and fauna of the country, for surveillance reasons and biodiversity security. So, vast knowledge is held by the military in the natural products area. During the conference, we had an RSC table with lanyards and Prof Peter Leadlay from Cambridge University as one of the highlights of the meeting.

Discussions on local biodiversity and the future of science with the expected budget constraints were important for the future of the area, which was once pioneering when Brazil was considered a sub-developed country. Now, we have to protect biodiversity and change the way natural products are seen.

The Rio landscape certainly helped:

Finally, at the end of the year, RSC and the British Government joined forces and presented two seminars during the Regional South Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society. The meeting was held a UCS (University of Caxias do Sul) a community university. The region is well known for its regional development linked to basic industries and crops, and also a huge German-Italian immigration community.

RSC contributed a How to Publish seminar, talking about the mission and vision of RSC, as well as what our journals can offer for authors in the country, along with other offerings, such as Chemistry World and our databases such as ChemSpider and MarinLit. Afterwards, the Chevening director in Brazil, Dr James Edward, presented the Chevening Brazil program, how these scholarships work and its objectives: to find leaders coming from the hard sciences, who normally don´t apply. The SBQ-Sul was a good audience for both RSC and Chevening.

Watch our space for 2020!

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Medicinal and Catalysis Chemistry in Brazil: New Directions ⇔ and Beyond

11 Feb 2020

The Royal Society of Chemistry office in São Paulo recently supported and sponsored two events in Brazil that sound like opposites to each other. Similarities appeared on two fronts: difficulties in keeping science running, such as promoting events, and the role of Women in Science, both live discussions. Pirinópolis in Goias State with its historical landscape and natural beauty hosted the 9th edition of the Brazilian Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, BrazMedChem. The region is known for its falls, food and local culture, which includes “Cavalhada“.

Carvalhada parade during the meeting

More and more, the natural products and computational fields are embracing medicinal chemistry. It was interesting to see how the discussion about gender equality, career progress and interactions with pharma companies were inserted into the program. The conference benefited from a panel discussion on “Women in Medicinal Chemistry: Why so Few?” with Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova, Maria Cristina Nonato, Vanderlan Bolzani and Gunda Georg. All of them talked about their own experiences and actions to overcome the difficulties in teaching MedChem to young female students and conducting research in the area as a woman.

Prof. Garneau-Tsodikova gave an emotional testimonial about balancing motherhood and research when she saw another professor in the audience with her baby in a sling. It was a sign that everything is possible and having a family is a natural part of women’s lives.

M. Cristina Nonato, G. Georg, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova and Vanderlan Bolzani

Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova and and Vanderlan Bolzani

Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova giving her scientific talk.

Prof. Garneau-Tsodikova’s scientific talk was “Towards understanding, engineering, and developing novel nonribosomal peptide enzymes” and she was also pleased to see local schools invited to take part of the event, with some experiments to showcase what chemistry can do and call their attention to science in general. RSC engaged with the meeting in different ways: Prof Gonçalo Bernardes officially received his Lectureship certificate from Prof. Garneau-Tsodikova, an RSC Medicinal Chemistry (formerly known as MedChemComm) Associate Editor, right before giving his talk:

Prof. Gonçalo is part of the Advisory Board of Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (OBC). We also co-supported an Early Career Award for Prof. Luis O Ragasini from USP-RP:

At the final ceremony, RSC offered four poster prizes (as book vouchers and electronic subscriptions) and the proud winners are shown below:

Guilherme M. Silva (USP-RP) receiving his OBC poster prize from Prof Angelo de Fátima (UFMG)	Micael Cunha – USP.SP receiving his RSC Advances poster prize from Prof Vanessa Pasqualotto (UFG)
Francisco L. de Oliveira supervisor (Prof G. Zanatta – UFC) receiving the MedChemComm poster prize from Prof Alexandre Orsato (UEL)	Daniel Carvalho Santos – UNIFESP receiving his MedChemComm poster prize from Prof Gustavo Trossini (USP)

We also had the opportunity to see the interactions of many institutions and companies with the researchers, such as DNDi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who were present to discuss the future of drugs for neglected diseases.

This brings me to the next event that happened almost at the same time, the 20th edition of the Brazilian Congress on Catalysis, CBCat in São Paulo. The organizers managed to engage both catalysis companies and energy ones as well. If Brazilian researchers keep up these interactions, the research landscape will change, as well as the way academia communicates with industry and the other way around. It is past time to break the barriers of innovation. During the Catalysis Congress, the main goal was to show how catalysis can be applied to different fields, from organic synthesis to fuels. Again, the discussion around CO₂ used as a feedstock or as an energy building block brought together different views.

At the final ceremony and with the support of two of our Editorial Board Members, RSC was able to provide four poster prizes (as book vouchers) from the following journals:

…and the proud winners are shown below:

Thatiane Veríssimo Dos Santos (UFAL-AL) receiving his RSC Advances poster prize from Prof Heloise Pastore (Editorial Board member, RSC Advances – UNICAMP)

Christian Carlos De Sousa (UFF-RJ) receiving his ChemComm poster prize from Prof Javier Perez-Ramirez (Editor in Chief, Catalysis Science & Technology – ETH Zurich)

Wesley F. Monteiro (PUC-RS) receiving his Dalton Trans./New J. Chem. poster prize from Prof Javier Perez-Ramirez (Editor in Chief, Catalysis Science & Technology -ETH Zurich)

Letícia Rasteiro (IQSC/USP-SC) receiving his Catalysis Science & Technology/PCCP poster prize from Prof Javier Perez-Ramirez (Editor in Chief, Catalysis Science & Technology -ETH Zurich)

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Recognizing the Brazilian Chemistry Community

15 Aug 2019

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Brazilian Connections

While many people can properly guess that the Royal Society of Chemistry originated in the UK, they may not be aware of just how far we’ve come, literally, since our British beginnings in 1841. Over 175 years later, we have offices around the world, including one in beautiful São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil and in the Southern Hemisphere. The city has one of the most vibrant and thriving economies in Latin America, but even though the country has seen growth in the science and engineering research sector over the last decade, times are hard right now for academics in Brazil. In the spirit of internationalization, our office in Brazil has been working hard to promote the science that is being accomplished here to our colleagues around the world.

It certainly helps that we’re located next to the Science and Innovation Network in Brazil, one of the British government’s strategic partnerships in 30 countries/territories, that aim to mutually benefit both the UK and host-country. Through the RSC’s physical presence in this partner nation, we can forge strong UK-Brazil interactions that support research and innovation for the whole world. We have been working with other partners to create networking opportunities that put researchers in the global spotlight, and lubricate the group gears in the search for solutions to global problems. It is a win-win situation. You interact more, you expose yourself, you embrace big problems and that helps push to solve local (and often critically necessary) ones.

One of our long-term Brazilian partners is Sociedade Brasileira de Química (SBQ), the Brazilian Chemical Society; as a not-for-profit organization like the RSC and as a scholarly and professional society, SBQ supports the chemical sciences in Brazil and even publishes its own Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, which it makes freely available to read to advance science literacy. The RSC’s support of SBQ has been historical and since 2007 we have been taking part in the SBQ annual meeting.

The Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction

For 2019, the IYPT, apart from the splashing success of our IYPT lanyards, we decided to take a step forward and award the researchers who have been publishing with us in the last 2 years. As a publisher, we measure engagement by publication numbers. More importantly, we want to recognize engagement, and we hope this boosts publications further and leads to further engagement. As examples, we took part of some Newton Fund Brazil activities and also the Brazil-UK Year of Science and Innovation. We worked together with our recent partner, CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) – the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – which is a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology under the Brazilian federal government. Joining forces with CNPq, we put the new prize together: the Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction. The idea was to recognize researchers with outstanding publication records and give back the opportunity for networking, to help make the awardees gain further recognition and encourage the new ones in the game to look for opportunities.

During the 42th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society in Joiville last May, we presented the prize winners. During the honor ceremony we presented the two awardees. Firstly, representing Women in Chemistry, Prof Dirce Pozebon from UFGRS, was awarded. Prof Pozebon publshed 6 Articles in 2017-2018 which collectively received 39 citations. Prof Eufrânio N. Silva Jr from UFMG, was awarded after publishing 8 Articles in 2017-2018, which received 42 citations. He was not able to attend, but Prof Luis Claudio Barbosa from UFMG (one of our FRSC) represented him during the ceremony.

Prof Dirce Pozebon (3rd from the left) from UFRGS receiving her prize certificate from the hands of Prof Alsion Hulme (representing RSC), Prof Vanderlan Bolzani (representing the CNPq president João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo) and Prof Norberto Pereira Lopes (representing SBQ).

Prof Luiz Claudio Barbosa from UFMG receiving Prof Eufrânio´s prize certificate from the hands of Prof Alison Hulme (representing RSC), Prof Norberto Pereira Lopes (representing SBQ) and Prof Vanderlan Bolzani (representing the CNPq president João Luiz Filgueiras de Azevedo).

The selection guidelines for the Brazilian Chemistry Certificate of Distinction can be found here. This prize it will contribute to winners in their dual roles as the researcher and the professor, with the opportunity to travel abroad to attend an international conference and/or spend some short period interacting with fellow colleagues. The prize includes money towards accommodation and travel from both CNPq and RSC. The Certificate of Distinction shows our commitment to recognizing our interactions with our communities in Brazil. It gives concrete ideas for the future stakeholders who embrace internationalization and networking tools, in giving back to the academic society the knowledge that science, in the end, brings to our lives. A nation with no investment into the scientific community does not flourish, as no progress can be made in the right direction.The scientific production in Brazil needs to be recognized, and the quality of the work done here can make an impact – if only, with all the differences we face and discuss, it is put to the task to solve technological problems.

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Publishing, Presenting, and Peer Review: Helping Showcase Brazilian Chemistry through the RSC Science Connect Program

03 Apr 2019

Work hard and you will succeed. Getting the research ball rolling to publish frequently is a matter of working hard, and also knowing better what publishers expect. Research is a global “business” and we will only progress scientifically in every corner of the world if we connect. As a scientist, there are many components to the game of your career. You have to teach, get students, make reports, sustain your lab, progress in the career, get involved with global problems, solve bureaucratic issues and make yourself knowledgeable. How to do all of that? We can improve various aspects when you publish and make the world recognize what you are doing. Then you will connect globally, you will have greater ideas and see the world that is full of opportunities, where openness is key.

The Royal Society of Chemistry wants to help every researcher in the world get a better understanding of our publishing process. Having this in mind, we have collaborated with the British Council in Brazil since 2015 to add inside information from a publisher point-of-view into their Researcher Connect program, sponsored by Newton Fund Brazil. We wanted to unlock the door to publishing for Brazilian researchers: the strategy involves me, Dr. Beth Magalhães, Manager of Publishing in Brazil based in São Paulo, and Dr. Jen Griffiths, the Editorial Development Manager for the Americas from the RSC’s Washington, DC office, traveling together around this big country and getting to know the different cultures and facilities that carry on the nation’s high-quality research. This year especially, we included our tour in the Brazil-UK Year of Science and Innovation agenda. “Science is GREAT“ is a motto for the year, and this aligns with the idea behind what we proposed: spending a whole day giving a series of four totally hands-on workshops for up-and-coming researchers to improve their publishing, presenting, and reviewing skills as scientists. We named it Science Connect, because more than just publishing numbers and volume, we want people to engage across their community and internationally.

On February 7th, we headed to Alfenas, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and to the Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL). UNIFAL received us with a full house of chemists and pharmacists. We had professors, post-docs, MSc and PhD students all present. Minas has a unique and vibrant atmosphere, being well known for the good food and especially, the coffee and pão de queijo, a popular signature dish of bite-sized cheese-balls. We had the support of Prof. Dr. Vanessa Boralli and we were happy that the audience was really involved and talkative throughout.

Group photo at UNIFAL with RSC trainers.

Then we flew to Teresina, and what a surprise: we were received by Prof. Francisco Guedes, the President of Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Piauí (FAPEPI), which is the Piauí State Funding Agency that highlighted our program in their newsletter. Prof. Beatriz Rodrigues, head of the international office of Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI) gave us a warm welcome to the campus, where on February 11th, we held an exciting workshop; together with a varied group of attendees, people were able to talk with us in a relaxed and casual setting. Teresina is located in the far Northeast, and having someone from abroad garnered attention from the locals, who are warm and highly curious about anything. The Serra da Capivara National Park nearby is quite famous for its prehistoric rock paintings which have inspired the local art craft. The weather is hot and humid, and we could feel how proud the locals are of their home, histories and of course the lunch break. By lunchtime it was making total sense why most people stop anything they are doing between 12 and 2 pm, in order to get away from the heat.

Group photo at UFPI with RSC trainers.

Finally, on February 14th, we went from Teresina to Curitiba, heading then to Ponta Grossa. This region is full of soya farms, making the region very attractive for work opportunities. The Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa organized a nice event inside their Astronomy building. Prof. Dr. Jarem Garcia from the Chemistry department put together a nice mix of students and professors to mingle with us and one another. We were surrounded by the beautiful nature of Vila Velha Park and couldn’t resist sampling the local churrasco, giving us the opportunity to experience the renowned barbecue meat that fills the region.

Group photo at UEPG with RSC trainers.

The workshop was filled with opportunities for attendees to talk about their work and gain presenting experience to improve their oral communication skills. They also trained, in a hands-on mode, in identifying a good abstract and title and to improve and optimize their own, and how important is to formulate a cover letter to call attention to your work. Towards the end of the day, posters were discussed in a more informal way, especially to explore how keeping it simple is typically better; attendees also had the opportunity to self-critique and constructively critique peers .

Communicating science through writing, talking, and displaying while increasing personal impact have to be straightforward and thoughtful. Preparation is essential, training is important and persisting is even more crucial. With these keys, we are sure to be rewarded for our hard work; even if the voyage to be taken will be very long, we are willing to pay the price as we did, covering more than 6,700 km, not only for science but also the joys of cheese balls, geology signs and churrasco that come with the journey!

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Have You Ever Been to Bahia? BMOS Went and So Should You!

04 Mar 2019

Brazil is a country made up of states that are sometime more like individual countries. Bahia state, Salvador city, has a different atmosphere, and being away from the usual southwest area gives the science community different opportunities for interaction. The Brazilian soul was there in Salvador, as well our historical beginning as a country, as the most prestigious Organic Synthesis Meeting in Brazil, 17^th BMOS, supported by the Federal University of Bahia-UFBA was held there this year. The RSC Organic Division had a long lasting engagement with the organic synthesis community, organizing the Young Investigator Award in the past. Because the RSC has a close relationship with the Science and Innovation Network in Brazil (SIN Brazil), we included the 17^th BMOS in the 2018-2019 UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation, which we have embraced with them from the beginning. It was a big opportunity for us to keep the award alive. After a rebranding, the award was renamed BMOS-RSC Young Investigator Distinction, and captured the support of the GREAT campaign associated with the Year.

Opening ceremony for the Young Investigator Distinctions, featuring Rui Lopes (Sin Deputy Director), Elizabeth Magalhaes (RSC Manager in Brazil) and Maurício Victor (17th BMOS Chair).

With this encouragement, we were able to offer four prizes, two each for young UK and Brazilian researchers, following early career request selection criteria. The BMOS organization made a huge celebration for that, and we had a whole slot in the event to talk about the importance of UK collaborations, the importance of internationalization and exposition of early career researchers.

One of the criteria for the selection was a collaboration statement between UK and Brazil researchers. We were able to show the Year launching video celebrating UK-Brazil collaboration efforts through the years. The video clearly highlights that collaborations truly make better science. The selected awardees received a certificate from Prof Jonathan Clayden beforehand, and had a slot to talk about their current research work.

Andrew L. Lawrance (The University of Edinburgh, UK), Mauricio Victor, Stephen P Thomas (The University of Edinburgh, UK), Giovanni W. Amarante (Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil), Jonathan Clayden and Diogo S. Ludtke (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) presenting their certificates the BMOS-RSC Young Investigator Distinction ceremony.

Prof Jonathan Clayden (University of Bristol, UK) was our star at the meeting. He came to give a closing talk after the awardees presentations, and he was available during the entire meeting to sign his famous, prestigious and landmark book, “Organic Chemistry”.

Prof. Jonathan Clayden gives the closing talk at BMOS 2019.

Finally, at the closing ceremony two PhD students, Edson Emilio Garambel Vilca and Renoto Zarzotto de Marais, were awarded RSC poster prizes from ChemComm and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry by for their presentations.

Edson Emilio Garambel Vilca (and Antonio Carlos Bender Burtoloso), Elizabeth Magalhaes, Mauricio Victor and Renato Zorzatto de Morais (and William Kerr, Tell Tuttle) for the titles Studies in the Total Synthesis of (+)-Lysergic Acid and (+)-Lysergol: A Direct Approach for the Construction of the Tetracyclic core of Ergot Alkaloids and Novel Iridium(I) Complexes Bearing Chelating NHC-Phosphine Ligands as Catalysts for C—H Functionalisation Processes, respectively at the poster prize ceremony receiving ChemComm and OrgBiomolecularChem book vouchers and certificates.

This year, the 17^th BMOS in Bahia was another great opportunity for the RSC to engage with the Brazilian community and collaborate with the Brazilian Chemical Society and the British Council for the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation. We look forward to more opportunities to bring together researchers from diverse, international backgrounds and highlight the high quality research in Latin America to the world!

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An Intense Year of Chemical Science Activities in Brazil

03 Dec 2018

After the winter break in the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil’s position as a leader of science research was showcased, with several chemistry-related meetings happening all over the country. The focus areas ranged from CO₂ storage and utilization at the International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (ICCDU), molecular magnetism at the International Conference on Molecular-based Magnetism (ICMM), new and advanced analytical science at National Meeting on Analytical Chemistry (ENQA) and diverse aspects of inorganic chemistry at the Brazilian Meeting on Inorganic Chemistry (BMIC). These concentrated activities coincide with the Northern hemisphere summer break, making it possible for international speakers to come over and bring the right international flavor. Several engaged RSC authors and editors came and we were able to foster future collaborations. For the RSC, we are happy that the local community now easily recognizes our journals and we can show our commitment to increasing the submission and publication of high-quality work from the region.

The International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization

UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation network reception at the British Council residence in Rio.

The ICCDU had partnered with the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation, and so a UK delegation was deeply involved in several activities (Profs Michael North, Peter Styring, Katy Armstrong) as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Green Chemistry, Prof Philip Jessop. The event was included on the Year calendar web site. Above is a photo of the main networking event during the meeting, which brought together Brazilians and international researchers.

Poster prize winners at the 2018 ICCDU; pictured from left to right: Adriano H Braga (USP-Brazil), Juan Arturo Mendoza-Nieto (UNAM-Mexico) and Mathias Smialkowski (Ruhr-Universität Bochum-Germany)

The RSC offered several poster prizes on behalf of our sustainability and energy journals, and wish to take the opportunity here to congratulate the winners: Adriano H. Braga from the University of São Paulo in Brazil won the Sustainable Energy & Fuels prize; the Energy & Environmental Science prize went to Juan Arturo Mendoza-Nieto from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM/Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México); and the Green Chemistry prize was awarded to Mathias Smialkowski from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany.

The International Conference on Molecule-based Magnetism

ICMM is a joint community gathering that brings together chemists and physicists, together with biologists and materials scientists for deep and focused discussions on different topics in the field of molecule-based magnets, including metal organic frameworks, modelling and theory of electronic structure, magneto-chiral and frustrated systems, bio-magnetic phenomena, and magneto-optic and magneto-caloric nanomaterials.

Left to right: Jonathan J Marbey (Florida State University) receiving his prize from JMC C Advisory Board Member, Prof Roberta Sessoli; Luca M Carrella (Univ Mainz-Germany) centre, receiving his prize from Profs Miguel Novak (conference chair) and Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers Editor-in-Chief, Song Gao; Marcus J Giansiracusa (Univ Manchester-UK) centre, receiving his prize from Dalton Transactions Advisory Board Member, Prof Masahiro Yamashita and the conference Chair, Prof Miguel Novak.

RSC offered poster prizes and we wish to take the opportunity here to congratulate the winners. Jonathan J. Marbey from Florida State University won the Journal of Material Chemistry C prize, which was presented by one of the journal’s Advisory Board Members, Prof Roberta Sessoli from the University of Florence in Italy; Luca M. Carrella won the prize from Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, which was presented by the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Prof Song Gao and conference chair Prof Miguel Novak; and Marcus J. Giansiracusa received the Dalton Transactions prize, which was presented by the conference chair and one of the journal’s Advisory Board Members, Prof Masahiro Yamashita. What an honor for all of us.

Encontro Nacional de Química Analítica: The National Meeting on Analytical Chemistry

The Meet the Editor session at ENQA; pictured from left to right: Prof Dion Dionysiou, Prof Jailson B de Andrade, Prof Susan Lunte, RSC Editorial Development Manager Beth Magalhaes, and Prof Carlos Garcia.

ENQA was something else! With more than 1200 attendees, the meeting was a celebration of their achievements and the internationalization that is clear. Prof Wendell Coltro of Universidade Federal de Goiás (the Federal University of Goiás) did a fantastic job helping us organize a Meet the Editor session; he brought along Prof Carlos Garcia, who serves as an Associate Editor for RSC Advances, to join efforts with Prof Susan Lunte and Prof Jailson B de Andrade, who serve on the Advisory Board and Editorial Board of Analytical Methods, respectively. Prof Dion Dionysiou from the University of Cincinnati, an engaged author and Editor of the new Chemistry in the Environment books series, was also present to give some tips.

Prof Marcia Mesko, JAAS Lectureship awardee from Univ Pelotas-Brazil, was also honored during the event.

Tayane A. Freitas (UFSCar-Brazil) receiving her RSC Advances prize from Prof Carlos Garcia.

We just could not compete with the parallel section on Women in Chemistry, which goes to show how the Analytical community are discussing diversity and inclusion. Related to that, Prof Marcia Mesko from Universidade Federal de Pelotas was also honored for her recent achievements. She was awarded the JAAS Lectureship in 2018 and was selected for both the 100 Women in Chemistry and Young Analytical Scientists web collections, which include her recent paper from JAAS. She is now an Advisory Board Member for JAAS; she also currently serves as the Analytical Division President at SBQ, the Brazilian Chemical Society, and will be organizing the next ENQA.

Analyst/Analytical Methods and RSC Advances offered poster prizes and we wish to congratulate the winners. The Analyst/Analytical Methods prize was given to Bernardo F. Braz Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. The RSC Advances prize was awarded to Tayane A. Freitas from Universidade Federal de São Carlos and we took took the opportunity to have Prof Garcia present it.

The Brazilian Meeting on Inorganic Chemistry

BMIC has a long-lasting relationship with the RSC and its Inorganic Division. This time the event went to Fortaleza, the Brazilian capital closest to Europe that is also easy to reach from North America. Perhaps lured by the lovely sightseeing and beautiful beach, the event brought renowned academics from around the world to Brazil. Americans including Prof Thomas Meyer from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Associate Editor for New Journal of Chemistry Prof Debbie Crans from Colorado State University, and ChemComm Associate Ediot Prof T. Don Tilley from the University of California, Berkeley, joined international attendees like Prof Peter Junk , also an Associate Editor for New Journal of Chemistry, from James Cook University in the UK, Prof Osamu Ishitani from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, Frank T. Edelmann from Magdeburg University in Germany, Cedric Fischmeister from Université Rennes 1 in France, and Brazilians like Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences Editorial Board Member, Prof Mauricio Baptista from the University of São Paulo.

Left to right: Poster prize winners Isabela Moreira Soares Diógenis (UNICAMP , Brazil); Santiago Rostan (UdelaR, Uruguay); Victor Eulogio Lopez Guerrero (UNAM, México) with Peter Junk and Don Tilley.

Our journals Nanoscale, ChemComm and Nanoscale Advances awarded poster prizes and we would like to say congratulations to the winners: Isabela Moreira Soares Diógenis from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, Santiago Rostan from Universidad de la República(UdelaR) in Uruguay, and Victor Eulogio Lopez Guerrero from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico. The winners received their prizes from Profs Peter Junk and Don Tilley.

Chemistry for Everyone

As a final message, we would like to encourage the Brazilian community to continue its engagement with the RSC. There are many ways to engage with us, such as using social media to participate in online discussion forums and promote events, by tagging our twitter account @RoySocChem to start a conversation with us, and taking advantage of relevant hashtags; researchers can explore our grants opportunities, dig into our events page, explore and read our portfolio of journals, magazines (ChemistryWorld and Education-in-Chemistry) and databases, and approaching us with ideas. We understand that the success of our community depends on our ability to encourage and nurture the talent of the best people, regardless of who they are or their background.

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VIII Microfluidics Workshop (2018) in Brazil

10 Oct 2018

The VIII Workshop in Microfluidics took place July 18-20 2018 at PUC-Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held in conjunction with the I Brazil-Argentina Microfluidics Congress, an initiative of the Brazilian and Argentinian scientific community. RSC has been supporting the event since 2012. It has been growing in size and quality.
Prof Dr Nicole Pamme from University of Hull gave a Keynote lecture on Microfluidic approaches to environmental analysis and clinical diagnostics. The 3-day workshop included talks from Prof Dr Alberto Fracassi (UNICAMP, Brazil), Prof Dr Patrick Tabeling (Institut Pierre Gilles de Gennes, France) and Prof Dr Hernán Pastoriza (Instituto Balseiro, Centro Atómico Bariloche, Argentina). The program included talks selected from submitted abstracts as well as a poster section. Prof Pamme, who was invited to speak upon a suggestion from Lab on a Chip, spoke highly of the conference:
	“It was a great pleasure attending the workshop in Rio at PUC. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and significant size of the microfluidics community in South America with representatives from Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I sensed a great passion for this research area and found many impressive oral and poster presentations, especially in the area of physical and analytical sciences and also in biosciences applied to lab-on-a-chip. I made very many new connections and am looking forward to collaborating with researchers in South America as appropriate calls from funders will come out in the next months, like the Newton Fund, GCRF etc.”
The RSC was proud to award a prize from our journals Analyst, Analytical Methods and Lab-on-a-Chip for the best oral presentation selected from the posters. An RSC Book voucher and certificate were awarded to Ricardo A. G. Oliveira (CNPEM – LNNANO, Brazil) for the work entitled Microfluidic Electrical Double Layer Capillary Capacitors (μEDLC): a Low-Cost, Mass-Production Manufacturing, and High Analytical Performance Sensor for Nanomaterial Quality Control and Cancer Label-Free Diagnosis. Also, two honorable-mention poster prizes from Chemistry World went to Nicolle Miranda de Lima (PUC-Rio, Brazil) and Magalí Mercuri (CNEA – Argentina) who received electronic subscriptions to the magazine. Prize ceremony photo with Prof Dr Marcio S Carvalho, Ricardo A. G. Oliveira, Magalí Mercuri, Elizabeth Magalhaes and Nicolle Miranda de Lima According to Prof Tabeling: “The organizers were very successful in gathering most of the microfluidic forces of Brasil and Argentina. This meeting will certainly help the community to gain in strength and visibility, and, at some point, get more easily involved in a number of areas, in which there exists, at the moment, a surge of activity, such as nanoflows, organ on an chip, or single cell. The meeting was very interesting. It showed a variety of technologies (such as 3D printing), well handled by the community, a variety of subjects (such as oil applications) positioned at the cutting edge of research. One may wish that the conference will motivate the government and the Industry, along with the medical community to increase their interest and support to a field that has the potential to stimulate, beyond research, interesting entrepreneurial developments.” PUC-Rio in Rio de Janeiro, has a strong Engineering program, in which the LPMM-Laboratory of Microhydrodynamics and Flow in Porous Media laboratory working on Microfluidics is located. Prof Dr Marcio S Carvalho leads a research program on the free surface flows of complex liquids in microscale that occur in different situations.

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SBQ-RSC: Celebrating UK-Brazil collaborations

21 May 2018

Brazil has been the research centre of South America since the beginning of the 21^st century and is responsible for more than 50% of chemistry papers published in Latin America. The Royal Society of Chemistry has been committed to fostering international collaborations for at least as long. Ties between UK and Brazilian researchers have become common, and it was a natural result to sign our first Memorandum of Understanding with the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) in 2007, promoting and fostering collaborations. The MoU was renewed in 2012, and this May, the RSC and SBQ are signing an updated MoU that will incentivize UK and Brazilian researchers to participate in SBQ or RSC meetings, encourage inclusion and diversity and seek out joint third party activities.

In honour of this event, we have organized a special virtual issue highlighting collaborations between UK and Brazilian researchers. Articles from authors from 34 institutions in Brazil and 41 in the UK were selected, resulting in more than sixty articles on topics such as electroanalytical techniques, nanomaterials, catalysis, synthetic pathways and theoretical calculations, among others.

“The close ties and friendship between the SBQ and the Royal Society of Chemistry has helped foster many scientific collaborations and has brought scientists together to promote and share knowledge and ideas. Some of the results of these collaborations are now showcased in this web collection and we are immensely proud that these researchers chose to publish their work in our journals.” said Emma Wilson, Director of Publishing, RSC

“I’m very satisfied to renew the SBQ/RSC partnership signing a new Memorandum of Understanding during the SBQ Annual Meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, as an official activity of the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation. To celebrate, the editors of both RSC journals portfolio and the Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society-JBCS decided to create themed issues. Each society selected scientific papers by authors from Brazil and UK. This is a great initiative, and the success is guaranteed. Congratulations to all the people engaged in actions to approximate SBQ and RSC much more, hence the Brazilian and the UK sciences.“ said Prof Aldo J G Zarbin, SBQ President

“Our future collaborations include a themed issue in the Royal Society of Chemistry journals portfolio and the JBCS of selected scientific papers shared by authors from Brazil and UK. I am also very much looking forward to formally renewing our partnership and friendship by signing our Memorandum of Understanding – a welcome commitment between our two countries to collaborate further in the future for the benefit of chemistry and humanity.“ said Professor Dominic Tildesley Past President, Royal Society of Chemistry

This themed issue will also celebrate the UK-BRAZIL Year of Science and Innovation 2018-2019, organized by the Science and Innovation Network Brazil (SIN). This initiative recognizes the significant increase in collaborations between the two countries and their resulting publications.

“The UK-Brazil Year of Science & Innovation is a celebration of current and new world class collaborations in global challenges including in energy, climate, biodiversity, agriculture and health & linked to our Industrial Strategy and Clean Growth Grand Challenge. I am thrilled that the Royal Society of Chemistry and Brazilian Chemical Society are a strong part of this Year” said Dr Julia Knights, Director of Science & Innovation at the British Embassy in Brasilia. Check the provisional UK-BR YoS&I program here.

We invite you to browse the collection to see what’s been happening between Brazil and the UK since 2016.

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