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
OpinionNora de Leeuw: ‘Some of my best PhD students weren’t that great at passing exams’
The computational chemist on perspectives from outside academia and the importance of inquisitiveness
WebinarNature’s amazing chemistry: reflections on its complexity and diversity
Join us on 16 September as we take a walk on the wild side to discover the wacky and wonderful chemical mysteries of the natural world
ResearchUnique Iron Age kohl from Iran differs from that of ancient Egypt
Eye makeup found to contain graphite and manganese but not organic ingredients
NewsResearcher severely injured in 2016 Hawaii lab explosion receives £5 million settlement
Thea Ekins-Coward lost an arm in an experiment with unsafe apparatus
OpinionThe fungal source of Titian’s rich reds
Laccaic acid, thought to be produced by lac insects, is produced by a symbiont similar to the zombie ant fungus
NewsChemistry for the visually impaired that can be felt, heard and smelt
The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, recently brought chemistry alive for students with sight loss
OpinionGetting good at human tasks
’What do you mean you had to lock the NMR with an oscilloscope and shim the magnet by hand?’
OpinionPonnadurai Ramasami: ‘You will learn more by going the more difficult way’
The trailblazing computational chemist on the joys of teaching, inaugurating a virtual conference, and the importance of doing things the hard way
NewsHow do you rebuild your lab after it is hit by an Iranian missile?
Milko van der Boom talks to Chemistry World about dealing with destruction at the Weizmann Institute, saving samples and people coming together
NewsAria seeks new chief as Ilan Gur steps down
After three years at the helm, Gur to step down from blue-skies research funder
OpinionHelping remote schools be in their element
The element sets now found in over half of Australian high schools
CareersGood network connections help startup founders and employees to succeed
Career success is easier with help from others
OpinionContemporary chemistry owes a lot to benzene's beginnings
Celebrating what started when Faraday found the molecule with no end
OpinionFaraday’s laboratory manual and the isolation of benzene
Instruction on how to be as much at home in the lab as was the man himself
FeatureThe young female astronomer who worked out what the sun is made of
100 years ago, Cecilia Payne deduced that the sun is mainly made of hydrogen – but was encouraged to downplay her findings by her PhD supervisor. Mike Sutton takes up the story
CareersChoosing the right mentor
Taking part in a mentoring programme can provide you with the support you need for career success
NewsCollection of Alan Turing’s papers sells for a record £465,400
Items included a personal letter from his mother and an original copy of his only chemistry paper
OpinionWhat the smell of benzene tells us about the world
A philosophical discussion about how much we can trust our senses
ResearchPortable device detects poisonous pigment in books
St Andrews librarians and physicists partner to create sensor that can detect the spectrum of toxic green colourant
OpinionBenzene’s 200-year legacy of transformation
As we celebrate the anniversary of benzene’s isolation, we must remember that scientific centenaries carry additional agendas