I first would like to apologize for the extra delay in publishing this NewsLetter, mainly due to technical problems and also due to some delay in obtaining important information prior to release. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Since the previous issue, the main event was our "ECTN 3" plenary meeting held in Prague (Czech Republic) in April. Anthony Smith had a hard job to report on the ECTN activities (new projects, project continuation, workshops, financial statements, ... ) and also on the ECTN Association General Assembly issues that represent our strategic orientation for the future developement of the European Chemistry Community.

There are several important pieces of information this month related to different area of interest, such as :

News flash

SPECIAL OFFER FOR QUESTIONMARK SOFTWARE (May 22, 2003)

Following our plenary meeting in Prague, we have received a special offer from Roland Nyns, Managing Director, Questionmark Europe for the purchase of Questionmark licences.
QuestionMark are offering a discount of 10% on top of the standard academic discount, on all their licences (not services or support). See their site at www.questionmark.com/ for information on their products, and contact info@questionmark.be for price information .
To qualify for this discount, members must purchase the licences through the ECTN. Please order the software licences from the ECTN (send the signed order form to Marie-Jeanne Feucht (feucht@cpe.fr, fax +33 472 43 17 29). For administrative reasons, you will be invoiced by the ECTN, but you will receive the licences directly from Questionmark. Please make sure that the name of the company is written as Questionmark Europe (small "m")
This is an excellent opportunity for you to purchase, for your own use or for the use of your department/institution, the Perception software we are using for the EChemTest.

ECTN Association and ECTN Project

by Anthony Smith

ECTN Association

The ECTN Association held its first official general assembly on Saturday, 26 April 2003, in Prague.

All members will receive a copy of the minutes of this meeting.

At the meeting the interim Administrative Council, including the President and Vice-President, was unanimously elected as the first official Administrative Council of the Association. The term of office of this Council is two years. The appointment of Kristiina Wähälä as the Treasurer of the Association was approved by the General Assembly.

Membership fees for 2004 will remain at 350 Euro.

The General Assembly approved the following motion: The ECTN Association is in favour of pursuing the chemistry Eurobachelor project. It asks the ECTN Tuning group to consult with members of the Association to prepare a final document for approval at the next General Assembly. The goal of the Association is to make available a ‘Eurobachelor label’ to institutions that satisfy the critera to be defined. This requires cooperation with other competent bodies such as FECS and its member societies’.

The revised Eurobachelor paper will be sent to all Association members as soon as possible after the November 2003 meeting of the ‘Tuning’ group.

A major benefit for ECTN Association members: With regard to the EChemTest, members of the Association will be given free access to the tests, via a password, as soon as they are released on the Internet, until the end of September 2003 (in the first instance). All members are requested to try the tests and to send their comments to the EChemTest group leaders.

ECTN Project

Firstly, excellent news for the network. The ECTN3 project ‘The New Generation of Chemists’ has been approved for funding. The details are not yet known, but we can plan our future activities with the certainty that we will be funded. Many thanks indeed and congratulations to all involved in this application.

Report of the ECTN Plenary Meeting, April 24-27, 2003, Prague, CZ.

The ECTN had a very successful meeting in Prague with 97 participants from 25 different countries. A report of the meeting is <here> (.doc Word format / 42 Kb).

Many thanks to the organisers, especially Pavel Drasar and Jiri Barek, for all the excellent work they did to make the meeting a success.

The next meeting of the ECTN Management Committee will be held on 20th September 2003, in Vienna, AT. There will be two major items for discussion: the final report for ECTN2 and the planning of ECTN3. Any members wishing to submit items for the Management Committee should contact Tony Smith before September 15.

ECTN Dissemination

IUPAC 39th Congress, Ottawa QC, Canada August 10-15, 2003

Pascal Mimero, ESCPE Lyon - FR (received March 17, 2003)

The abstract entitled : "EChemTest : A Solution to Certify your Knowledge in Chemistry" submitted was accepted for an Oral presentation on August 13th. <Read> the abstract (HTML format).

18th ICCE, Istanbul, Turkey / August 3-8, 2004

IUPAC Conference on Chemical Education : 18th International Conference on Chemical Education (18th ICCE), Pre-registration already opened
Istanbul, Turkey.
Prof. Dr. Mustafa L. Berkem, Chairman
Prof. Hale Bayram, Secretary
Marmara University, Ataturk Faculty of Education
TR- 81040 Goztepe-Istanbul, Turkey
E-mail: haleb@ttnet.net.tr or icce2004@marmara.edu.tr
Tel: +90 2163459090/231 ; Fax: +90 2163388060 <>
<http://www.turchemsoc.org/icce/web/>

Tuning Educational Structures 2, Brussels, May 2003

From Antti Hoikkala, U. of Helsinki - FI (received June 12, 2003)

I'm sending you a picture (jpg format - 57Kb) on behalf of professor Kristiina Wähälä for the ECTN NewsLetter. The picture is from Tuning Educational Structures 2 Launching Meeting, held in may in Brussels.

Conferences Announcement

Pan-European conference for all Europe's younger chemists / August 27-29, 2003

SFC On-line information #10 (received May 15, 2003)

August 27-29, 2003, Grenoble (France)
Pan-European conference for all Europe's younger chemists
Le prix du meilleur poster et la remise de l'European Medal récompenseront les meilleures contributions lors de ces journées destinées aux jeunes chercheurs européens (21-35 ans).
Date limite de soumission : 4 juillet 2003 / / Submission deadline : July 4, 2003
URL : http://www.setforeurope.org
E-mail : ericw@setforeurope.demon.co.uk

Pigments in food, more than colours ... / June 14-17, 2004

SFC On-line information #11 (received May 31, 2003)

June 14-17, 2004, Quimper (France)
"Pigments in food, more than colours..."
Date limite de soumission des propositions : 15 décembre 2003 // Abstract submission deadline : December 15, 2003
URL : http://www.iaa-cornouaille.net/pf2004

6th National Meeting of Physical Chemistry / Aug 31 - Sept 3, 2003

University of Lisbon, PT (received June 2, 2003)

object: Call for Papers
date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 19:49:56 +0100
From: 6th National Meeting of Physical Chemistry - Portugal <6eqf-spq@fc.ul.pt>
Society: SPQ
To: Call for Papers / Physical Chemistry Meeting <6eqf-spq@fc.ul.pt>
6th National Meeting of Physical Chemistry
Portuguese Chemical Society / Division of Physical Chemistry
Physical Chemistry at the heart of Complexity / Artificial Intelligence and Environment

Call for PAPERS = Deadline: June 30

Venu: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisboa, PORTUGAL
Date: 31st August - 3rd September, 2003
Web site: http://6eqf-spq.fc.ul.pt ; E-mail: 6eqf-spq@fc.ul.pt

PLENARY LECTURES

Neural Networks in Drug Design : Johann Gasteiger, Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany

Neural Network Predictions of NMR Chemical Shifts : João Aires de Sousa, New University of Lisboa, Portugal

The Role of Physical Chemistry in the Approach to Environmental Problems : Sebastião J. Formosinho, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Solvent Effects on Homolytic Bond Dissociation Energies. Microsolvation Modeling and Statistical Mechanics Simulations : Benedito Costa Cabral, University of Lisboa, Portugal

The Life and the Electrochemistry of Interfaces : António Fernando Silva, University of Porto, Portugal

Slow Relaxations in Complex Systems : Joaquim J. Moura Ramos, Technical University of Lisboa, Portugal

--
Comissão Organizadora do 6º Encontro Nacional de Química-Física da SPQ
DQB - FCUL
Campo Grande
1749-016 Lisboa - Portugal

Nucleic Acids in Grenoble / Ph.D. Call

Christina Cardin , U. of Reading, UK (received May 27, 2003)

Object: Nucleic acids in Grenoble
Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 17:36:00 +0100
From: "Christine Cardin" <c.j.cardin@reading.ac.uk>
Dear all
I have been asked by Dr Trevor Forsyth of ILL, Grenoble, whether there could be any student interested in a Ph.D. project which was based in Reading for one year followed by two years at the ILL. The funding is EPSRC/ILL and so suitable for a candidate who has a II/i or better in chemistry/biochemistry. These proposals are normally submitted with a c.v. but we became aware of the possibility of this arrangement rather late for the normal timetable on which students now work.
Having discussed the possible area of science is described in the attached Word document with a couple of potential students in Reading, I have become aware that the main problem is to find a UK student who would like to spend two years in Grenoble. This is why I decided to circularise a long list of people, just in case you know someone who would like to work for a Univesity of Reading Ph.D. while mainly based in Grenoble.
This is an opportunity for a suitable person to work with my newly graduated Ph.D. Susana Teixeira, who will be known to some of you. Susana has been appointed to a five year position at the EPSRC-funded Deuteration Laboatory in Grenoble.
http://www.embl-grenoble.fr/groups/neutrin_crys/Deuteration_lab.html
If there is a suitable EU student who is NOT a UK II/I or better, I believe there may be a way to fund the student, even though he/she does not meet EPSRC eligibility criteria.
If you know of anyone possibly interested and suitable, please ask them to send me a c.v. as a matter of urgency. If not, apologies for having troubled you.
With best wishes
Christine
Christine Cardin
Reader in Macromolecular Crystallography
Secretary, British Crystallographic Association
Chemistry Dept., University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG4 9BB
Phone: -(44)-118-9318215 ; Fax : -(44)-118-9316632
WWW : http://www.chem.rdg.ac.uk/dept/staff/inorg/cjc.html

In brief ...

2003, the Year of Chemistry in Japan

SFC on-line information #11 (received May 31, 2003)

Hiromichi Seya, the new President of the Chemical Society of Japan since March 2003, President of the Asahi Glass Co. Society, announced a number of promotional events accross the country in relation to chemistry.
This year celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Japanese Chemical Society.
Internet Website : http://www.chemistry.or.jp/index-e.html

Food chemistry, taste and gastronomy ... a chemical idea ready to be formulated !

SFC On-Line Information #11, May 31, 2003

French >>> Les acteurs français de la chimie des aliments et du goût
Comme il en exposait déjà l'idée dans les colonnes de L'Actualité Chimique à plusieurs reprises (février 2003, p.62), Hervé This souhaite voir se former un groupe français de chimie, physico-chimie et biochimie des aliments et du goût. Un annuaire, qui regroupe déjà près de 300 noms, vient d'être constitué. Il sera tenu régulièrement à jour et envoyé à ceux qui le désirent et devrait être prochainement disponible sur le site de la SFC.
« Je sais que l'heure est à l'Europe, en science, et que cette dernière est internationale, mais n'est-il pas satisfaisant de savoir que des gens qui ont à la fois du talent scientifique et une culture gastronomique avancée (la culture française) se préoccupent de ce que nous mangeons ? »
English >>>The French Food and Taste Chemistry actors.
As already exposed several times in a previous article of L'Actualité Chimique (February 2003, pp.62), the suggestion of Hervé This is to create a French group in Food and Taste Chemistry, Physical-Chemistry and Biochemistry. A Directory of 300 names was recently setup. Regularly updated, it could be made available to all those who are interested and will be soon made accessible on the SFC website.
« I know that, Internationally recognized, Science is also a major concern in Europe, but how would it be satisfaying to see talented scientists having a strong background knowledge in gastronomy (French culture) concerned by what we are eating ? »
Courriels / Emails : hthis@paris.inra.fr ou/or herve.this@college-de-france.fr .
.

Chemistry and Industry : Chemie.de, to keep you updated with Industrial news

Chemie.DE Newsletter (english), 05/28/2003

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