more diversity in the industry year of chemistrydoc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/9084.pdf · ety of...
TRANSCRIPT
www.sustainabilityconsult.com
Women in chemistryWhy we need to encourage more diversity in the industry
Saving the planet How chemists are leading the development of Cleantech
A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
YEAR OF CHEMISTRY
No. 1 / Nov. ’11
CELEBRATING INNOVATION IN THE INDUSTRY
Global achievements: We look at how chemistry continues to have an impact on our everyday lives
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK
2 · NOVEMBER 2011 A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
Chemistry explores life’s elemental questions
For further details telephone: +44(0)1752 584 584 or email: [email protected]
If you are a female interested in Science, Engineering and Technology, Plymouth University could be the perfect place for you to study...
As one of the largest higher education institutions in the South West, Plymouth
has a bredth of courses in Science, Engineering and Technology. Their Faculty
of Science and Technology offers support to female students in technology
and science subjects, where women are the minority. WiTNet is a network
that connects you with other women in male-dominated courses, for shared
interests, friendship, advice, problem solving and career development.
Visit www.plymouth.ac.uk for further information on the courses available to you and www.plymouth.ac.uk/witnet for further information about the support group.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYWITH PLYMOUTHUNIVERSITY
The International Year of Chemistry (IYC) is a time to celebrate the importance of chemistry, remembering its major contribution to the economy as well as its pioneering work in tackling global problems such as famine, drought and the eff ects of CO2 emissions
‘Chemistry is less visible than medicine as all kids see GPs and medical dramas’
Dr Kylie VincentSenior chemistry
researcher at Oxford University
discusses the importance
of education
WE RECOMMEND
YEAR OF CHEMISTRY, 1ST EDITION, NOVEMBER 2011
Managing Director: Christopher EmbersonEditorial Manager: Faye GodfreyBusiness Development Manager: Hannah Butler
Responsible for this issue:Project Manager: Oliver AmosPhone: 020 7665 4440E-mail: [email protected]
Distributed with: The Independent, November 2011Print: The Independent
Mediaplanet contact information: Phone: 0207 665 4400Fax: 0207 665 4419 E-mail: [email protected]
Mediaplanet takes full responsibility for the contents of this supplement
We make our readers succeed!
PAGE 5
One hundred years ago, the fi eld of chem-istry was an ex-citing, evolv-ing landscape. In 1911, Marie
Curie was awarded her second Nobel Prize, this time for discovering the elements radium and polonium. And a small team led by Ernest Ruther-ford discovered the true structure of the atom, turning upside-down the scientifi c status quo. One hun-dred years on, in 2011, we celebrate the UN International Year of Chem-istry (IYC), and the chemistry land-scape is still exciting and evolving. The timing of the IYC may depend on the chemistry of yesterday, but it is equally focused on the importance of chemistry today and its vital role in tomorrow’s society.
Supports six million jobs
1Chemistry off ers many econom-ic, societal and environmental
benefits. Chemical science re-search enables 21 per cent of the UK’s GDP – that’s £258bn – and sup-ports six million British jobs, ac-cording to research carried out for the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) last year. Some of this coun-try’s most successful exports in-clude blockbuster pharmaceuticals and world-leading crop science.
However, the continuation of this great legacy is at risk; cuts of 12-15 per cent in real terms to the science research budget will be seriously
detrimental to an area in which the UK has traditionally punched above its weight. More than 6,500 re-search and development jobs have been lost from the pharmaceutical industry in the past 18 months as the UK has become a more expen-sive place to do business.
So the IYC has been a time for the chemistry community to come together and demonstrate the im-mense value of our science; not on-ly its economic benefi ts to the coun-try, but its central role in facing the world’s challenges of sustainable food, water and energy supply, and improving health and lifestyle for everyone with new treatments, di-agnostics and advanced materials.
Inspiring young chemists
2 Above all, IYC has been about young people. We must inspire
them to study chemistry today, so they can lead the research teams of tomorrow in tackling those global challenges. Those who don’t become
scientists must be literate in sci-ence; they have the right as mem-bers of society to engage in intelli-gent debate about issues such as cli-mate change, genetic modifi cation and stem cell research.
Through the year we’ve celebrat-ed the enthusiasm for chemistry of young people around the world. In-ternational competitions and glob-al experiments have shown that they truly appreciate the value of chemistry. It’s also time for leaders and policy-makers to demonstrate their appreciation of that value and invest in the science that will en-able the discoveries needed to im-prove our way of life: chemistry.
One hundred years from now, people should be able to look back and remember a century of chemi-cal discovery even greater than the one before. They will have clean, sustainable energy, plentiful food and water, and better health than ever before, and they will have chemistry to thank for it.
CHALLENGES
Professor David PhillipsPresident, Royal Society of Chemistry
We are here...
Just a few examples of what we do. INEOS makes the raw materials that are essential in the manufacture of a wide variety of products that help save lives, improve health and enhance standards of living around the world. to find out more visit: www.ineos.com
... our Oligomers business makes the chemicals, that maintain the efficiency of wind turbines…
… our Nitriles business make the chemicals necessary for lighter and stronger rotor blades...
... and our Vinyls and Olefins & Polymers businesses make the chemicals that are used in plastics and composites for safer, more efficient cars.
4 · NOVEMBER 2011 A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
Selvarani Elahi is the fi rst female scientist to become Deputy Gov-ernment Chemist since the fi rst appointment 100 years ago.
The role is a great honour. When Elahi deputises for Dr Derek Craston, Government Chemist, the law must respect her arbitration whenever there is disagreement over samples taken by Trading Standards’ offi cers. “Our word is fi nal so we must be sure of our science and results,” she said.
As for being the fi rst woman in the role, Elahi, 43, said: “I’m pleased to be a positive role model. I have a three-year-old daughter and it can be inspir-ing for other mothers to see women with young families getting ahead.”
Female role models are desperately needed in the chemical industry as
few positions of authority are held by women. Research by the Roy-al Society of Chemistry suggests the industry still fails to use the skills of its female workforce “due to structural and cultural barriers”.
Although the sector has re-cruited more females in the past 15 years, women are dramatically less likely to reach the upper eche-lons of research and development. One reason given was the diffi cul-ty of balancing a demanding career with family responsibilities. The situation is similar in academia, where there is a “PhD glass ceiling”. Although half of chemistry under-graduates are female, only six per cent of professors are female.
Elahi has benefi ted from working for LGC, a private company with pol-icies that make it easier for women
to reach the top. She is head of con-sumer protection services, as well as deputy government chemist.
“LGC’s policies help women with families achieve equal opportuni-ty,” she said. “That’s one reason 57 per cent of our workforce are wom-en. Policies include fl exi-time, part-time work and working from home. But the most benefi cial policy is our workplace nursery”.
The nursery is managed and subsidised by three companies at the science park in Teddington, which cuts costs by 50 per cent. Elahi said: “If other companies did it, the reductions would help women settle the argument about whether it’s worth working fi nan-cially. Childcare can cost £1,400 a month. The nursery’s proximity to work also takes stress out of my day. Friends who drop kids off at private nurseries have the stress of commuting, then rushing back to pick up.”
Selvarani ElahiHead of Consumer Protection and Deputy Government Chemist,LGC
FEMALE ROLE MODELS NEEDED IN CHEMISTRY
DAVID SMITH
■ Question: Can anything be
done to help more women
reach top positions in the
chemical industries?
■ Answer: Some companies,
such as LGC, are introducing
policies that help women
achieve equal opportunities.
NEWS
Wednesday 19th October 201110.30am-4.00pm
Please register at:www.manchester.ac.uk/engineeringfair
In association with
Manchester Central (The G-MEX Centre)
For graduate careers and student work experience
Choosing a different routeWomen are moving into male-dominated industries
Ethnicity and equality Overcoming the prejudice that still exists
Make it to the top Why we need more diversity in the boardroom
A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
No. 1 / Sep ’11
Role model: Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Ann Summers
and Knickerbox, discusses her experience as a woman at the top
P
HO
TO: S
EA
N C
OO
K
REALISE YOUR
POTENTIAL
ISSUEPROMOTINGEQUALITY
A SPECIAL
Just missed it?
To request your fee copy, please contact us:[email protected]
or 0207 665 4400
Visit www.mediaplanet.com/uk
to view more of our recent reports
NOVEMBER 2011 · 5A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
EDUCATION AND DIVERSITYIt is so important that more women are moving into — and staying in the industry. Education from a young age is key to the future of chemistryPHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK
DAVID SMITH
www.syngenta.co.uk/periodictable
Encouraging women to reach the highest levelsPromoting the exciting nature of the industry and ensuring the right recruitment policies are in place will ensure more women are reaching management level.
Recruitment expert Stephen Mothersole says the chemical in-dustry must take active steps to ensure more women reach the top management levels. Mothersole, CEO of high-level recruitment com-pany Chemical Search, said: “We’ve made progress, but it’s a conserva-tive industry. We need more wom-en running businesses and pro-moted onto boards, and non-execu-tive female directors with business backgrounds to overturn the myth that women can’t do business.”
To achieve these aims requires the right recruitment policies to attract enough women lower down the ladder, then excellent training and mentoring to ensure they fulfi l their potential. Female role models are a key aspect.
Job fl exibility is an issue, but Mothersole felt it was less funda-mental. He said: “The drop-out rate for women after 5-7 years is high. To get them to stay for long careers, we need to sell the diversity and chal-lenging nature of the job, and the amazing travel opportunities.”
DAVID SMITH
Dr Kylie Vincent, a senior chemis-try researcher at Oxford Universi-ty, says the problem arises as there is little understanding of what chemists do behind the scenes. As ambassador for the Royal Soci-ety of Chemistry’s ChemNet pro-gramme, her key message is the diversity of careers.
“Teachers say, ‘I’m glad you’ve come as my students only want to study medicine and I want you to tell them about something dif-ferent’,” she said. “Chemistry is less visible than medicine as all
kids see GPs and medical dramas.”
Dr Vincent tells the children that components in everyday objects, such as the iPhone, are designed by chemists. She said: “They are surprised to learn there’s chem-istry in the battery, the screens, the plastics and electronic chips. And I also tell them that chemis-try interfaces with other sciences. It’s often about understanding bi-ological systems, such as the way enzymes break down food. But chemists also design drugs, build new fuels from plants, turn waste into fuel and design packaging.”
A second message is that a chemistry degree opens up job options rather than closing them. She said: “It gives train-ing in teamwork, time manage-ment, project management and data analysis. Employers love these skills and chemists go in-to banking, project management, and consultancy.”
To find out more, she recom-mends contacting the Royal Soci-ety of Chemistry, attending uni-versity open days, or a science fair, such as the Summer Science Exhi-bition in London.
Dr Kylie VincentSenior chemistry researcher, Oxford University
A quarter of 14-year-olds confuse Nobel Prize-winning chemist Marie Curie with R&B pop star Mariah Carey, according to research by the Royal Institution. The survey shows how little is known to teenagers of chemistry’s great names.
INSPIRING CHANGE
Education is key to ensuring growth in the industry
6 · NOVEMBER 2011 A SUPPLEMENT BY MEDIAPLANET DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THE INDEPENDENT
INSPIRATION
Agricultural chemists are fi nding ways to maximise food productivity in the face of rising populations and global warming in the battle to save the planet.
Chemists are at the forefront of the most important research into the sustainability of life on earth. They are studying biofu-els for when oil runs out, creat-ing medicines to counter dis-ease, and battling to increase the amount of food we produce.
“Trying to maximise the land’s productivity is inspiring and es-sential work,” said Dr Ray Elliott, a scientifi c advisor at Syngen-ta, an agribusiness committed to sustainable agriculture. “The main challenges for agricultural chemists are to preserve biodi-versity and use less water. Agri-culture, for example, uses 70 per cent of our water. As the planet’s population increases and climate change worsens, it’s vital we in-crease the amount of food, while using the same amount of land.”
Not only is the population ris-ing alarmingly, but people in Chi-na and Asia are becoming more middle-class as their economies grow. “It means they have mon-ey to buy more meat and dairy. In China, over the past 20 years, aver-age meat consumption has gone from 3.8kg to 52.4kg per year. Meat consumption is linked to global warming because it is land- and water-intensive,” said Dr Elliott.
With the exception of mecha-nisation, chemists have been in-volved in all the major advanc-es in maximising food produc-tivity since the 1950s. Dr Elliott said: “Chemists played a big role in developing synthetic fertilis-ers to control greenhouse emis-sions; they have improved seeds through traditional breeding and GM crops, and they have de-veloped crop protection chem-icals which dramatically im-prove yields.”
DAVID SMITH
There are some advantages to liv-ing in a cold, windy country. Brit-ain’s wind-blown shoreline has made it a leader in the cleantech field, which harnesses renewable energy sources to reduce depend-ency on natural resources.
Making a changeInnovative British ener-gy companies, such as Aq-
uamarine, Pelamis and Minesto, are working on wave projects, es-pecially in Scotland. Britain also boasts Europe’s number one clean-tech university, Imperial College London. Its corporate partnerships include a £70m project with Qatar Petroleum and Shell to develop carbon-storage technologies, and with Rolls-Royce to innovate low-er-carbon engines.
Chemists play a key role at cleantech companies, includ-ing Econotherm, in Wales, which is at the forefront of energy-effi-cient technology. Its waste heat recuperators reclaim heat from
furnaces, boilers, ovens, ther-mal oxidisers and incinerators, then use it to warm air, water or oil, and for electricity generation. Econotherm doubled its staff and turnover in 2010 and predicts equivalent growth for 2011.
Overcoming the obstaclesThe British cleantech indus-try is increasingly confident,
according to research by the Car-bon Trust showing three-quarters of companies want to recruit new personnel, including many chem-ists, over the next 12 months.
But there is a curb on the clean-tech success story. Funding is more elusive since the 2008 finan-cial crash. Nearly a third of the 311 British companies interviewed cited a lack of access to finance as a big obstacle to expansion.
Finding the right supportAlex Betts, a partner in the Climate Change Capital Pri-
vate Equity Fund, felt the sec-tor was a success story, given the patchy financial and policy sup-port from governments.
“Clean chemistry does not typi-cally benefit from subsidies, and there aren’t the equivalent of in-ternational directives forcing countries to have a certain per-centage of fuel from renewables,” he said. “But, given oil prices, the
basic feedstock for many chemi-cals, there is an economic case for clean chemistry deriving plastics from biomass. Historically, the UK has been strong in the chem-ical industry but we are not see-ing many UK companies develop-ing strongly, compared with the US. This is a sector the Govern-ment could usefully investigate to determine if industrial grants can complement university and industrial research. From such a base, venture capital can be at-tracted to take risks and help to commercialise the products.”
■ Question: Britain’s cleantech
companies are confi dent, but is
there anything holding them back?
■ Answer: The sector is
expanding but it is being held back
by a lack of subsidies and other
sources of fi nance.
CHANGE
DAVID SMITH
Alex BettsPartner, CCC Private Equity Fund
Dr Ray ElliottScientifi c advisor, Syngenta
Chemists play key role in developing cleantech
Food
Water
Health
Biodiversity
Sense and SustainabilitySociety expects much of science. Promoting scientific innovation is proclaimed as a top priority by Europe’s policymakers – “paving the way to future success in a globalised economy and a changing environment.” Yet, there is widespread unease about science. Indeed, a backlash has developed toward agriculture, spurred by fears about the environment and health, and accompanied by a wish to return to simpler times. The main source of this unease lies not in the scientific solutions themselves, but in the fact that the solutions are always accompanied by a strict proviso: the need for wisdom and care in the way they are applied. This duty of care is our industry’s foremost commitment.
Crop protection is a science-based industry and innovative to the core. We are constantly adapting to new challenges, enabling farmers to resist destructive organisms that are themselves constantly adapting – and will do so more often and at a faster rate due to climate change. We are continually improving our products to make them safer and kinder to the environment. And we have achieved impressive results: farmers today have the best set of safe, environmentally sound tools, ever, to protect our food supply and to avoid the food crises and ecological damage that have plagued us throughout human history. Crop science has advanced as much, if not more, than any other sector: indeed we have helped exceed all expectations for food production, environmental care and safety. But we still have a long way to go if we are to feed a rising population and maintain a liveable planet.
Public understanding of agricultural progress is problematic in two ways: the advancements are complex, managerial and scientific in nature and they have been obscured by the urban public’s increasing isolation from its agricultural roots. These factors are coupled with rising anxiety about the future, which translates into politics. Hence, fear about food safety and the environment dominates today’s legislative framework rather than, say, the maintenance of a reliable supply of abundant, affordable food.
It must be said that Europe’s safety and sustainability imperatives have, in the main, served to formalise and confirm the path already embarked upon by our industry. This is because we do not act in isolation from societal need. We serve that need. The crop science industry has a very important message to deliver: We are listening... We are responding... We are always learning.
Concerns about safety and environmental effects are legitimate and taken to heart. Pesticide residues are a case in point. Consistently, years of independent testing have detected no residues in fully 2/3 of the cereal, fruits and vegetables we eat in Europe, even though pesticides were used in their production; and the remainder lies well within safety margins. We are not content with this record however, and we think we can improve upon it. How? Through dedicated outreach to farmers to ensure that our products are used in the way they are intended: with great care for users, consumers and the environment as we help secure an abundant supply of affordable, health-giving food. This is what we mean by stewardship. It puts sense into sustainability.
Friedhelm Schmider,Director General
www.ecpa.eu
Protecting our future food supply
Promoting plant science
THE CROP PROTECTION ASSOCIATION REPRESENTS MEMBERS ACTIVE IN THE UK CROP PROTECTION
SECTOR, WORKING TO PROMOTE THE KEY ROLE OF MODERN PLANT SCIENCE IN SUSTAINABLE, EFFICIENT
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PRODUCTION.
For further information contact Wendy Gray at CPA :
E-Mail : [email protected] Tel : 01733 355374 / 07590 745695Web : www.cropprotection.org.uk
Protecting our future food supply
Promoting plant science
Clariant Vertrieb (Deutschland) GmbH & Co. KG, c/o Clariant Service (Schweiz) AG, Kundendienst Papier Mitteleuropa, Rothausstrasse 61, 4132 Muttenz, Switzerland, Phone: +41 61 469 7638, www.paper.clariant.com
What do you need?
Pick a color, any color – Clariant has been there, created it. Color is what we do. We offer the broadest possible
palette of hues, fitting any kind of environment, for the widest range of materials and surfaces. How do our colors
stack up against nature’s? Try us, and decide for yourself. Clariant stands for colors, surfaces and performance
chemicals geared to the needs of a broad range of sectors. What’s more, we’re close enough to provide a solution
to your problem on the spot. Wherever in the world you are. Clariant International Ltd, www.clariant.com
Which colors are more vivid: natural or synthetic?