Collections
Research culture
In this collection we explore fostering a positive research culture and scientific practices, covering topics such as reproducibility, open science, diversity and inclusion, leadership and mentorship, career instability, discrimination, misconduct and the evolving landscape of research ethics and integrity.
Leadership
What’s wrong with research culture?
A knotty mess of problems affects people doing academic research in the UK. Rachel Brazil tries to untie the tangle
How to improve research culture
Five ways to make chemistry departments better places to work
How EPSRC fosters inclusion
The pandemic has provided valuable lessons for funders to rethink research culture
Support and wellbeing
Act now to support early-career researchers
The Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted long-existing issues that leaders need to take a stance on
Mental wellbeing in academia
Not enough has been done to support students during the pandemic
Science and research ‘are dead’ in Afghanistan
Afghan researchers and scholars flee or go into hiding as the Taliban’s return to power sees the science academy and universities closed
UKRI response to Black female academics on funding decisions called inadequate
Pledge to improve understanding and monitoring of inequality comes a year after open letter was first published
Diverse cultures
In situ with Tebello Nyokong
The influential chemist on nurturing confidence in students and taking inspiration from the humanities
The science of team science
Researchers and funders are exploring ways to make large collaborative projects more successful
Science faction
Taking inspiration from nerd culture
Science as a product of culture
The role of background beliefs and assumptions in the development of science
Change at the top
Improving research culture requires effort – but it’s worth it
Impact of Covid-19
Let it go
We have to accept that we can’t catch up on time lost in lockdown
How Covid-19 has changed us
While the pandemic has introduced more efficient and global ways of working, researchers and educators still have challenges to overcome
Pandemic continues to disrupt and depress UK researchers, survey finds
Researchers reported spending more time on peer-review activities, teaching and writing
Leading a lab through pandemic-induced uncertainty
Emphathy is vital to support mentees effectively
Publishing
Depositing hope for the future
The rise of ChemRxiv might mean that chemists can tackle thornier cultural problems
Australian Research Council’s ban on preprints in grants prompts outcry
Move derided as ‘hopelessly outdated’ and a setback for open science by researchers
Chemists react to UK umbrella funding body’s new open access mandate
Agency aligns itself with principles of Plan S by insisting on immediate open access
Four years of chemistry preprints
Nina Notman takes stock of how preprint severs have settled into the chemistry community
OpinionThe art of not letting the lab burn down
Behind every experiment is a technician quietly preventing catastrophe
BusinessRewriting genetic medicine
Scribe Therapeutics will soon begin clinical trials for its epigenetic treatment to tackle ‘bad’ cholesterol
ResearchWatching unpaired electrons at work
From building the Centre for Pulse EPR at Imperial to probing electron transfer in real time, Maxie Rößler is pushing an overlooked technique into the spotlight
OpinionJonathan Clayden: ‘I like to feel that we have set the curriculum rather than followed the curriculum’
The co-author of the much-loved Organic Chemistry shares his insights on creating a chemistry textbook
OpinionRewriting the textbooks – authors tell us how they do it
Peter Atkins, Catherine Housecroft and Jonathan Clayden guide us through the changing world of textbooks
OpinionCatherine Housecroft: ‘Undergraduates do not want to buy big, heavy textbooks’
The author of the authoritative Inorganic Chemistry discusses how changing student attitudes have led the shift to digital resources
OpinionPeter Atkins: ‘Rather than a single author book with an author’s voice, it’s becoming more of a committee construction’
The author of the venerable Physical Chemistry on how writing chemistry textbooks has changed over his career
CareersMaking lab equipment more accessible for chemists with physical disabilities
‘Chemical laboratories are often designed around a very narrow idea of standard talent,’ says one academic striving to make such spaces more inclusive
OpinionWhat kinds of reactions do you do most?
Variety may be the spice of life, but there’s space for the boring but effective
OpinionBuilding global links and growing local chemistry talent in The Gambia
Members of the Chemical Society of The Gambia have experienced success since joining Commonwealth Chemistry
BusinessEvonik to cut a further 3200 jobs by 2029
Most cuts will be in Germany, adding to the firm’s 2800 jobs shed between 2023 and 2026
OpinionHow learning languages helps me become a better scientist
Lessons from a multicultural scientific journey
NewsSocioeconomic background still holding back students in chemistry, RSC report finds
Access is only the first step to making the chemical sciences inclusive
OpinionWhy setting up a café is a good idea for chemistry students
Where support benefits both mentors and mentees
CareersWhat to do if you’re facing dismissal
What a disciplinary process feels like, and the practical steps to take early
WebinarMarine chemistry in a warming world: preserving Earth’s largest natural buffer
Join us on 15 July to learn how climate change is affecting the ocean’s biogeochemical cycles
OpinionBen Zhong Tang: ‘If you have to do something, try to do it well’
The polymer chemist on finding love for a subject, working with others and staying optimistic
CareersA career journey where nothing is lost and everything is transformed
What Lavoisier can teach you about career development
BusinessDetecting airborne pathogens by DNA sequencing
UK spin-out Agnos Biosciences turned a ‘wacky idea’ into a sensor with applications from agriculture to hospitals
OpinionAfrica should treat entrepreneurial science as a lifeline, not a luxury
Synchronised action from universities, policymakers and scientists is needed to bridge the gap from ideas to impact
OpinionThe current academic system doesn’t incentivise risk-taking
But playing it safe can have negative consequences for a field
NewsSupervisors can make or break wellbeing of early-career researchers, survey finds
76% said that their supervisor had a moderate to severe impact on their mental health
OpinionThe complicated legacy of J Craig Venter
By attempting to commercialise parts of the human genome, he sped up the development of gene sequencing technologies