We all worked hard to organise many big events and opportunities for chemists and we hope you will agree we’ve had another brilliant year! Here is a brief run through of what we’ve been up to....

To kick off the year we were lucky enough to have an exclusive presentation from BP in October. We learnt about the history of the well-known company and were given more information about the types of careers open to Chemistry students. After the presentation we were treated to lunch and many people found the talk really useful. In addition to this, BP were kind enough to sponsor our ChemSoc Quiz which was a massive success, with half of the proceeds donated to St. Mary's Hospice! We would like to take the time thank BP for their support this year and it has been an honour working with them.

In October we called all chemists to serve up their best Halloween themed cakes in our Charity Bake off. We raised £232.66 for Birmingham Children's Hospital! To get into the Christmas spirit we had a trip to Birmingham’s Millennium Point to go ice skating which was so much fun. To help those less fortunate in the local area during the festive period we organised a food bank collection for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and collected over 150 items.

As has become our tradition, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with ChemSoc Charity Week in aid of Cardiac Risk in the Young. We held yet another very successful bake off bake sale, had our very own lectures hold fun and explosive charity lectures and held a bingo night. We raised over £400 for the charity! Cardiac Risk in the Young do amazing work and it was a brilliant opportunity to raise awareness for a much-needed cause. In total for the year 2017/18 we raised over £1,000 and we hope to raise even more next year!

In March we were very pleased to meet Professor David Phillips, Birmingham alumnus and Past President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, when he came back to the Haworth Building to deliver the 2018 EPS Distinguished Lecture. We heard about his life as a student, early research in Texas and the former USSR, and the amazing work he does in photochemistry.

Also in March we held the event that everyone was waiting for.....Chem Ball!

This year for the first time we had a masquerade theme and the Ball was held in the very prestigious Birmingham Council House Banqueting Suite in Victoria Square. Everyone agreed that the venue and the food was brilliant, and it was great fun to bring both students and staff together to celebrate the end of our year through awards, taking photos and dancing.

As the end of term approaches, the annual EPS Societies’ Awards draw nearer. With the fantastic year we’ve had we would love to get on our hands on one of the prestigious Awards on offer. If you are or have been part of ChemSoc, or have enjoyed reading about our activities this year then please nominate us!

Best wishes,

Austen Nicholas,
ChemSoc Chair 2017/18