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
CareersFrom professional ballet dancer to quantum chemist
Creativity has been central to James Shee’s career across both art and science
OpinionPaul Alivisatos: ‘Physical chemistry brought me back into the fold’
The nanomaterials pioneer talks about coming from a family of immigrants, wandering as an undergraduate and finding his compass
OpinionPaneth’s mirrors and the isolation of methyl radicals
Laying the groundwork for the study of combustion and photochemical reactions
CareersHidden from view: being a scientific advisor for the emergency services
Stephen Yao’s expertise helps the emergency services deal with chemical incidents
NewsHow emergency services prepare for major chemical spills
Meet the experts who prepare emergency responders for the worst case scenario
NewsEleven chemists who have been honoured with a blue plaque
Celebrating the link between historic figures and the buildings they lived and worked in
NewsBlue plaque honours founder of the Chemical Society set up 185 years ago
Historical sign commemorates Robert Warington’s life with tribute at his home
CareersDoes gamification have a place in chemistry education?
Escape rooms, murder mysteries and virtual reality are being used to try to make the subject more attractive to students
BusinessUS reviews chemical incident prevention planning rules
Risk Management Program has been extended and rolled back under successive governments
ResearchIron from single meteorite found in ancient Polish artefacts
Discoveries indicate meteoritic iron was falling out of fashion in the late iron age
NewsAnalysis reveals ethnic minority applicants’ grant success rates still lower
Engineering and physical sciences’ review panels in UK more likely to award white researchers
News‘A mix of amazement, pure joy and relief’: chemists reflect on their Eureka moments
Cultivating your surroundings and work practices can make your own Eureka moment more likely
OpinionClassifications, racial discrimination and Covid-19
Lessons with philosophical significance for how we group people and objects
OpinionMy summer writing for Chemistry World
Rupo Mapanga on being a science writer intern at the Royal Society of Chemistry
OpinionChemists amid coronavirus five years on
Rebecca Trager catches up with four chemists to see how their working lives have changed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
OpinionChemists amid coronavirus five years on: Krystle McLaughlin
An assistant chemistry professor at a small college in New York gets her career back on track, thanks to a tenure clock extension and teaching release
OpinionChemists amid coronavirus five years on: Liang Zhang
Lockdown gave a young chemistry professor in China the space and time to consider the most worthwhile projects, and that has benefited his team
OpinionChemists amid coronavirus five years on: Anya Gryn’ova
A computational chemist has moved from being group leader at a German research institute to an associate computational chemistry prof in the UK
OpinionChemists amid coronavirus five years on: Lee Cronin
A University of Glasgow chemist describes how Covid-19 helped establish the principle of chemputation and spur a chemistry revolution
OpinionForming bonds through Covid-19
How studying chemistry helped ward off loneliness during the pandemic
ResearchAncient Vesuvius victim’s brain contains first natural organic glass ever seen
Extreme heating followed by rapid cooling formed unique material in a Herculaneum man
OpinionUlam’s Monte Carlo method and the harnessing of randomness
Randomness in the service of confidence