Otto Kostner, MSc: "Kunst aber Chemie! Chemie? Eine Kunst!"

The Minisymposium "Chemistry a_side" started with Otto Kostner's perfectly structured presentation about the chemistry of potter's clay and the forming of sculptures with it. Kostner saw another connection between chemistry and arts in the ambition of both disciplines to manufacture high-grade products from simple raw materials using skilful techniques (i.e. value creation).

Kostner explained the chemical composition of potter's clay to the audience and the processes which take place when it is dried and fired. The knowledge about the properties of his materials helps the chemist and artist to get optimal results with only moderate costs of production.

PORTRAMIX

Simon Albertini, BSc BSc: "A Short Story of Chemistry and Life"

Since many years biochemists and molecular biologists have tried to explain how life emerged on Earth. Simon Albertini showed several of these experiments, like S. Spiegelman's discovery of evolution on a molecular scale among RNA fragments. All those studies helped to prove many of the supposed steps from the inanimate to the animate world.

Simon Albertini confronted the audience with different definitions of life and the resulting advantages and disadvantages for the natural sciences in the search for its origin. A lively discussion with some almost philosophical questions completed the presentation.

Daniel Strolz: "Chemistry Is Not Everything, but Everything Is Chemistry"

Chemistry does not have the best reputation in our society. Daniel Strolz gave a lot of advice how to solve the problem with his passionate plea for simpler explanations and more adequate ways to communicate with the public.

Complicated chemical names should be avoided where they are unnecessary and difficult chemical theories need vivid translations into the language of people without a scientific background. With these means people’s fears towards chemistry could be transformed into the same joy for the discipline that Daniel Strolz shows himself.

Philipp Jordan: "Natural Detergents – a Self-experiment"

Washing powder and liquid detergents are relatively recent inventions. Philipp Jordan, however, demonstrated in his talk about natural detergents other washing agents which were used long before: potash, ivy or buckeyes.

Especially buckeyes were tested by Philipp Jordan for their cleaning power. With aescin as the main washing agent, a few crushed buckeyes were able to remove stains on towels as well as standard washing powder.

Prof. Charlotte Werndl: "Philosophie der Klimawissenschaften"

As a philosopher of science, Prof. Charlotte Werndl from the University of Salzburg often deals with the question whether methods and models – for example in climate sciences – can actually be used in the respective form and for the respective purpose. In her talk during the minisymposium "Chemistry a_side" she exemplified this problem by looking at the question whether the same set of data can be used both for the estimation of model parameters and to test the resulting model.

Dr. Ganna Lyashenko: "Insider Tips for Successful Submissions: Opening the Editor's Black Box"

Dr. Ganna Lyashenko works for Wiley-VCH as a Senior Associate Editor of "Chemistry – A European Journal". This is a publication of ChemPubSoc Europe, a joint organisation of the GÖCH and 15 other chemical societies in Europe. In her talk she offered insights into scientific publishing and the process from the submission of a manuscript up to its publication.

The presentation was especially interesting for young scientists, because of the numerous tips and tricks Dr. Lyashenko highlighted to avoid problems when submitting a paper. The importance of a clear structure of a paper and relevant research content was emphasized. In addition we learned that it is also particularly helpful to explain in a cover letter to the editor what makes the article worth being published in their journal.

Some of the information presented can also be found in the brochures put together by ChemPubSoc Europe/Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) editors, copies of which were available for the participants and can also be read on ChemistryViews.org (Tips for Writing Better Science Papers, Tips for Your Poster and Your Presentation).

EYCN representatives at the Austrian Chemistry Days 2017

The Chemistry Days were a joint Meeting of the Austrian (GÖCH) and the Swiss (SCS) chemical societies. Its two representatives in the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) Cornel Fink from Switzerland (left) and Miguel Steiner from the Austrian Jungchemiker (right) participated at the conference.

EYCN poster prize

The European Young Chemists' Network (EYCN) offered a poster award for "research without borders" at the Austrian Chemistry Days. The prize money of 150 € was endowed by Evonik Industries. Nastaran Hayati from the University of Salzburg won the competition with her poster about "Monolithic Porous Magnesium Silicide". The international jury with members of the Austrian and Swiss chemical societies as well as the EYCN and the Jungchemiker chose Hayati's contribution in the tight competition. Miguel Steiner as Austrian representative in the EYCN had the honour to present the award certificate to the happy winner.

EYCN presentation

The Austrian representative in the European Young Chemists' Network (EYCN) Miguel Steiner presented the activities of the EYCN during a Jungchemiker minisymposium. On this year's Delegates Assembly on Crete a new EYCN board was elected.

Dr. Elisabeth Schneider-Scherzer

After a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry at Sandoz/Novartis (former Biochemie), Dr. Elisabeth Schneider-Scherzer offered a lot of valuable suggestions for young scientists who want to succeed in the industry. She focussed especially on the challenges for women in this sector which is still dominated by rules made by men.

Elisabeth made it clear that flexibility is the key to climb the ladder – someone who is offered bananas throughout, but never wants to abandon the desire for apples has to live with the consequences. However, it is also important to keep one's skills and objectives in mind.

The audience was highly interested to benefit from Elisabeth's experience. She answered many questions about education, job application or additional skills both with the focus on demands in the industry and with her personal insights in mind which she had gained during her professional life.

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Klaus Rapp: "Alles Leben ist Chemie – von der Biochemie in die Energiewirtschaft"

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Klaus Rapp from Verfahren Umwelt Management GmbH (VUM, former VERBUND Umwelttechnik GmbH) not only offered an overview of his career, but also insights into the energy industry of Austria.

As CEO of his company Dr. Rapp has the advantage to be directly involved in the recruitment of new employees. He revealed some of his own key factors he concentrates on in job interviews.

After Dr. Rapp's presentation there were many questions from the audience about the energy industry of Austria (e.g. power supply system, alternative energy sources, dependencies in supply) as well as career topics (job application, PhD necessary or not, chances for chemists in technical sectors).

"Tell Your Story" award ceremony: Regina Itzinger

Regina Itzinger from Upper Austria looked forward to her chemistry class when she entered the electronics and bionics branch at the HTL Braunau. However, she had to realise that chemistry was not that often on the timetable as she had imagined. Anyway, she was sure that she wanted to study chemistry after secondary school.

During her bachelor and master studies in chemistry at the JKU Linz Regina Itzinger was in the same love-hate relationship with her subject that many others experience too. Yet, in the end she still enjoys being a chemist, not only for the prize at the "Tell Your Story" contest.

"Tell Your Story" award ceremony: Julian Fuchs

With his family history Julian Fuchs knew already early in his life that he would be a natural scientist. However, the tough decision remained whether he wanted to study physics or chemistry. Finally, his chemistry teacher helped him: she was the catalyst that directed Julian’s enthusiasm towards chemistry.

Already from his final thesis at school about the theoretical determination of acidities it was clear that Julian Fuchs had a high affinity towards theoretical chemistry. This is indeed what he does today at Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna. Happy about his way in chemistry he was awarded the "Tell Your Story" certificate.

"Tell Your Story" award ceremony: Philipp Petermeier

A poem with a hint of fantasy: in that way Philipp Petermeier presented his start into chemistry – and convinced the jury to award him the "Tell Your Story" prize. No signs of fantasy were present in his speech at the award ceremony where he showed images and a video from his participation at the Nanocar Race 2017 in Toulouse.

Martin Wieser, chair of the Jungchemiker presented the "Tell Your Story" certificate to Philipp Petermeier. The prize money of 100 € was sponsored by the "Chemie ist in"-campaign of the FCIÖ. Moreover, the winners got a chemistry textbook offered by Springer.

Images of the coffee break the Jungchemiker organised together with the Mensa NaWi Salzburg to offer the conference participants an opportunity for informal conversations.

Regional team Linz

Regional representative Manuel Pühringer presented last year's activities of the local team in Linz. They had organised lectures in the series "Chemistry a_side" and "Chemistry and Business" as well as a panel discussion about the question, whether it is wise for a graduate engineer to aim for a PhD.

For next year more talks are planned. Moreover, the regional team wants to be better known and therefore they intend to organise an info point at the "Meet & Greet" of the JKU Linz.

Regional team Innsbruck

The regional team Innsbruck organised lectures, workshops and company tours in the last year. Especially successful was a lecture series for school classes where professors from university presented their research focus in a comprehensible way.

Béatrice Daleiden and Daniel Menia showcased successful cooperation with the Career Service of the University of Innsbruck and with SGS Fresenius at organising workshops for young chemists.

Regional team Vienna

Tobias Bauernfeind and Sarah Keck presented the events they had organised in the last year for young chemists. Beside festivities they had also arranged two talks about "European chemicals legislation" and "Chemical and technological aspects of brewing beer".

The next event will be the workshop "Practice-oriented basics of business administration" from SGS Fresenius, which already took place in Innsbruck.

Regional team Graz

The local team from Graz could not participate at the Chemistry Days and therefore Stefan Felderer from the national board gave an overview of their activities during the past year.

The local team of Graz organised lectures about career opportunities at Anton Paar and about science and madness. Moreover, they arranged a company tour. Because of the great success of the talks the focus for next year will be mainly on organising more lectures.

"Are you ready to change the world? Foresight-Management"

Life changes. Nowadays it does so at an ever increasing rate and raises new challenges in every sector of your daily life. In the foresight workshop provided by Evonik, strategies how to assess future developements were presented. Furthermore it was practiced to find and present scenarios for the trends in various social and economic aspects of society. This very interesting workshop was completed by an excursion into long term product developement and marketing.