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President's Letter - June 2021
Written by Dr Susan Northfield, MRACI
Published 10 May 2021
Dear RACI Victorian Branch community,
Before I took on the role of Branch President late last year, I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I would approach this role and what I wanted to bring to it. I have been a member of the RACI for 14 years, and in the early years of my membership I admit I was too focused on my studies to spare a thought as to how the RACI operated or who was on the Branch committee for Victoria. That all changed in 2015 when a colleague invited me along to a Women in Chemistry Group committee meeting. I met so many wonderful people there and by the end of the meeting I had signed on as a committee member. A month later I signed up to the Peptide Users Group committee too.
I cannot commend highly enough the Groups in the Victorian Branch of the RACI. They are consistently providing quality interactions and chemistry content, and opportunities to network and are hardworking volunteers who generously give of their time and expertise. There will be a chance for you to meet the members of the Branch and Group committees soon, with details to be announced shortly of a social event where we will feature awarding of 25-year memberships to members. Stay tuned for details, and I hope you will be able to take advantage of this in-person event and meet these wonderful committee members.
The knowledge of what the Branch and Groups provide has been the catalyst for deciding what I wanted to bring to the presidential role, and has been the focus of some of our Branch activities of late. I can advise that we have started a process of consolidating and updating operational documentation for the Branch. For example, we have composed an “Event Toolkit”, which will assist the Groups in organisation of Events by providing templates for required documents like the budget (effectively streamlining the behind-the-scenes processes). We are also assisting our Groups to develop updated Terms of Reference documents that reflect the revised RACI bylaws, and will provide continuity for Group activities in the years ahead as committee members leave and new members join. Additionally, we are updating the Victorian Branch Awards; and will be advertising the 10 Awards in the coming weeks.
In addition to updating documentation, we are moving our Group and Branch AGMs to October/November, which will allow us to have a formalised advertising period for all available committee positions across all Groups and the Branch. The Group AGMs will precede that of the Branch, and we will broadly advertise opportunities to RACI members. We hope this transparency will encourage new members to join the Groups and/or the Branch. The Branch AGM will be in November and be combined with an in-person Awards Night. This will be yet another opportunity to meet and network with committee members, and importantly to celebrate the achievements of the VIC Award winners.
Finally, we have also introduced two new activities to our Branch this year, which we will continue to develop over time. We have started our own Branch Social Media pages (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram is pending) to provide Victorian-specific content. We are also establishing a Diversity and Inclusion advisory panel within the Branch, liaising with the existing national committee, but providing our own activities and based within Victoria. We will provide updates on these activities but are excited about the forward-thinking direction they provide.
Our Branch is particularly excited to invite you to register to attend CHEM2021, a conference we are holding on Zoom on July 12 and 13 for early and mid-career chemists, which is being organised by early and mid-career chemists. The event is open for anyone and everyone to register, but the intention is to provide opportunities for chemists who were especially impacted by the pandemic due to loss of opportunities to present their work, which is vital at their career stage. We are proud to be hosting this event and any questions can be directed to [email protected]. Registration is open now, with an early bird discount available. Registration includes a free ticket to our Branch Trivia Night, which will be advertised soon and run on the evening of July 13th.
Abstracts are also now open for oral or poster presentations. Sign up now!
Best wishes to you all!
Dr Susan Northfield
RACI VIC Branch President
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