Last year, we invited the holders of University Research and Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships with an interest in chemistry and materials science to submit outputs from their Royal Society funded research to Royal Society Open Science.
To coincide with Open Access Week, we were pleased to host an event to celebrate the launch of the ‘New Talent’ collection of papers in Royal Society Open Science. Each of the papers in the collection included a Royal Society University Research Fellow or Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship holder as an author.
Last year, we invited the holders of University Research and Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships with an interest in chemistry and materials science to submit outputs from their Royal Society funded research to Royal Society Open Science. Some 14 of the researchers submitted a paper, with topics ranging from lead–acid battery recycling, to the definition of flexibility windows in zeolite structures, to metal–organic frameworks, and the use of super-resolution microscopy to explore structures. Suffice to say, it was a very broad sweep of the field!
To celebrate the completion and success of the collection, we organised an event at the Royal Society at which a number of authors of the papers would present their work to an invited audience.
After months of planning, and invitations to speakers and guests, the day was a roaring success! Kicking off proceedings, we were delighted to have the President of the Royal Society, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, deliver a welcome address. This was a fantastic way to start the day: the President of the world’s oldest scientific academy supporting the rising stars of chemistry and materials science (as well as the Royal Society’s newest journal).
Editor-in-Chief of Royal Society Open Science, Jeremy Sanders, chaired the event, who along with Chemistry Subject Editor, Anthony Stace, was the driving force for both the collection of papers and this celebratory event. All the talks prompted enthusiastic discussion and debate not only between members of the audience and the speakers, but also among audience members themselves.
Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, Richard Catlow, gave a short closing address followed by Jeremy. Royal Society Open Science is a truly international journal, with our authors, Editors, and referees coming from across the globe (indeed a number of our presenters began their careers overseas before bringing their considerable talents to UK institutions – science really is global), so we were pleased that Richard was able to come to the event.
The enthusiasm of the presenters and audience for this event and its associated collection of papers spoke volumes about how successful it has been in its goals. The objectives we set ourselves were to showcase the excellent science supported and promoted by the Royal Society, the high-quality research published in Royal Society Open Science, and how two learned societies can work together in our collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Some of the most satisfying outcomes of the event were the nascent collaborations being discussed between presenters. Royal Society Open Science is a cross-disciplinary journal, and we endeavour to support new work that spans traditional disciplinary boundaries. Indeed, the range of topics covered by the New Talent collection provides fertile ground for novel multi-disciplinary work. We hope to hear more of these new collaborations in time.
Lastly, to our authors and speakers yesterday, we say many thanks – we’re grateful for your support. For those who couldn’t make it, we encourage you to read the collection of papers, and also see what else Royal Society Open Science publishes. We hope that, like us, you see the New Talent collection not as the conclusion of a process but the start of new and productive relationships.
Visit the journal website to browse all our content and find out more about how to submit a paper.
