The newly created Federation of Commonwealth Chemical Sciences Society — known simply as Commonwealth Chemistry — has quickly built on its commitment to share infrastructure and information for its membership. Among the most recent examples: members of the Canadian Society for Chemistry can gain unlimited free access to the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship publication, Chemistry World, until the end of 2021, as well as free access to RSC educational and professional development resources for the rest of summer 2020.
With representation from the 54 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, former territories of the British Empire that include some 2.4 billion people, these countries are also home to about 12% of all the world’s researchers and some 10% of global research activities. Commonwealth Chemistry wants to shape a future based on using science to identify solutions to many of our current challenges, taking the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as guiding principles for the way in which the chemical sciences will be implemented.
The CSC was one of the founding members of Commonwealth Chemistry, which has several objectives:
- to be an effective and inclusive voice for practitioners of the chemical sciences in the Commonwealth and to speak out as a single cohesive group for collective benefit;
- support all practitioners of the chemical sciences in the Commonwealth, and encourage and facilitate the sharing of best practices;
- drive innovation and promote excellence in the chemical sciences in the Commonwealth, including in education and practice;
- promote translational research to elevate the relevance of chemical sciences, influencing key decision makers and creating wider economic and societal benefits;
- foster scientific collaborations and enable researcher mobility and access to research infrastructure across the Commonwealth.
It is those objectives that have driven measures such as providing access to Chemistry World and other parts of the RSC usual reserved only for its members. CSC members can now take advantage of this invitation as follows:
- Gain access to Chemistry World by creating an account at this link:
chemistryworld.com/commonwealth-chemistry You will be asked for your affiliation and membership number, which will activate this offer. (If you have forgotten your membership number, it can be viewed on your CIC membership profile; if you are not member, join) - CSC members with an interest in education can explore the RSC material in this area at edu.rsc.org, which includes the journal Chemical Education Research and Practice.
- All of RSC’s online professional development courses are free until the end of August 2020, however please note that the content for these educational resources is focused primarily on the UK curricula.