The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (2011)

The New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (NZIC) was founded in 1931, and currently represents some 800 members involved in the profession of chemistry. It is comprised of six branches and a number of specialist groups. Members of the NZIC can elect to belong to one or more of the Specialist Groups, with 10 groups currently registered, of varying activity. 1 Some are functional only during national Conferences, while others have active year-long programmes, including their own conferences, and recruit non-NZIC members as affiliates. The governing council of the NZIC comprises a delegate from each Branch Committee together with an elected President, first and second Vice Presidents, Past President, General Secretary and General Treasurer. Members of Council are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting, although in recent years the First Vice-President has been elected unopposed to the Presidency and the Second Vice-President has been elected unopposed to the First Vice-Presidency. The NZIC is registered as a charitable society and enjoys tax-free status on many of its transactions, although it is still liable for 15% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on purchases and membership fees. The NZIC is comprised of six Branches, which are (from North to South), Auckland, Waikato (based in Hamilton), Manawatu (based in Palmerston North), Wellington, Canterbury (based in Christchurch), and Otago (based in Dunedin). Members all belong to their local branch with the exception of Members resident or temporarily overseas who belong to a group administered by the Honorary General Secretary. There are currently three grades of membership: Member (including Student Member), Fellow, and Honorary Fellow, which is the highest honour of the NZIC, only awarded to members who have given meritorious service to the Institute or to the profession of chemistry. The NZIC has four awards to recognize outstanding New Zealand chemists. Three of them, for Chemical Science, Industrial and Applied Chemistry, and Chemical Education are awarded annually, while the Medal for younger chemists is awarded every second year. The Easterfield Medal was donated by the Royal Institute of Chemistry (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) in honour of the late Sir Thomas Hill Easterfield who was the first chairman of the New Zealand section of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and also one of the early Presidents of the NZIC. The NZIC is a joint sponsor of the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem), which is held in Honolulu, Hawaii every five years, with the most recent event being in 2010. In addition it holds its own national meeting every second year, except in those years when there is also a Pacfichem meeting in Hawaii. The 2011 NZIC Conference is being held this year at The University of Waikato in Hamilton, from November 27 to December 1 (www.nzic2011.co.nz/). The NZIC also supports an annual meeting for chemistry educators, with this year′s meeting, ChemEd 2011 being held in Palmerston North in July (www.chemed2011.co.nz/). The NZIC has been a co-owner society of Chemistry–An Asian Journal since 2008, but also publishes its own professional Journal Chemistry in New Zealand (CiNZ), which is a quarterly publication that is distributed to members, libraries, and other subscribers with a circulation of approximately 1000. It is published in January, April, July and October each year. Six months after an issue is produced, articles are available for download from the Institute website: www.nzic.org.nz/CiNZ/CiNZ.html. 2011 is the 75th year of publication of CiNZ and to coincide with the International Year of Chemistry a series of special articles is being published from top New Zealand chemists, as well as from Nobel Laureates who have had an involvement with New Zealand chemistry. The NZIC also publishes a chemistry education journal ChemEd NZ - Chemistry Education in New Zealand, which is a quarterly journal aimed at those who teach chemistry at secondary schools, institutes of technology and universities. It is published in February, May, August and November, and is available free to New Zealand subscribers. For overseas subscribers, a nominal subscription charge covers postage and packaging. The NZIC has also been involved in the publication of books specific to New Zealand, and although the second edition (1998) of our publication Chemical Processes in New Zealand is now out of print, individual articles are available for downloading from our website: www.nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/chem_processes.html. The NZIC has also supported publication of the book New Zealand is Different: Chemical Milestones in New Zealand History, which is a historical study, describing some of the chemistry and technology that has contributed to the development of our country. A second volume of this work is currently in preparation. IYC 2011 is also being well celebrated in New Zealand with both the NZIC and The Royal Society of New Zealand running a series of activities throughout 2011 which highlight chemistry in New Zealand. The two organizations are partners in the website http://yearofchemistry.org.nz/ which describes many of these activities. However it is not just the International Year of Chemistry that has made 2011 a memorable year for the NZIC, as our first Council meeting for the year was caught up in the February 22nd earthquake in Christchurch (Figure 1). The meeting began as planned with 2011 President Gordon Rewcastle receiving the ceremonial chain of office from 2010 President Mark Waterland, but less than three hours later the meeting was terminated by the arrival of the quake. Thankfully none of our Council members was injured, although the same cannot be said for the building we were meeting in, which suffered significant structural damage and still remains closed. The Christchurch building where the NZIC Council meeting was being held on February 22, 2011. Cracks caused by the earthquake can be seen running from the window of the upstairs room where the Council members were sitting at the time the quake struck. 1 1 Gordon Rewcastle President New Zealand Institute of Chemistry