Two chemists from Stellenbosch University, Prof Peter Mallon and Prof Willem van Otterlo, have been elected President and Vice-President of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) respectively.
This means that a postgraduate student from the newly-elected president's home institution, in this instance PhD-student Megan Mathews, also becomes the national postgraduate representative on the SACI council. According to Prof Mallon, this initiative was instituted to ensure greater input from younger chemists to the activities of the Institute.
Prof Peter Mallon, a polymer scientist, acts as the executive head of the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science and Prof Van Otterlo is a organic chemist.
As newly-elected SACI President, Prof Mallon answered a few questions about the role of the Institute in the development of chemists and chemistry in South Africa, Africa and internationally:
What is the role of SACI in South Africa?
The South African Chemical Institute (SACI) is the professional body that represents all chemists in South Africa. Its mission is to promote the development and image of chemistry in different ways, to advise on chemical education and other chemistry-related legislative matters and issues of public and environmental concern, to play a leading role in assuring the professional competence and integrity of chemists and to foster international collaboration as part of the African chemical community. It provides a forum for all chemist in South Africa to engage on these issues at a national and international level.
SACI is also the body that is designated by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) to award the official Professional Chemist designation (PrChemSA). In addition, SACI publishes the South African Journal of Chemistry which celebrated its centenary in 2018. This is makes it one of the oldest chemical society journals in the world, and it remains an open access publication platform for chemical research.
At Stellenbosch University, the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science help train the next generation of young professional chemists. Being part of, and contributing to a professional chemistry body such as SACI is important in ensuring the integrity of our field in South Africa.
How does SACI ensure its sustainability in a changing world?
The SACI Executive Committee has initiated a review process and we are currently finalising a new five year plan, focusing on inter alia the evolving role of the Institute, membership of young chemists and diversity, education, communication, governance and strategic partnerships.
As an example of strategic partnerships, I recently attended the meeting of the Forum for Presidents of Chemical Societies hosted by Société Chimique de France (French Chemical Society) as part of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry's (IUPAC) centenary celebrations in Paris. At this meeting the Presidents (or their representatives) from 15 chemical societies signed a Joint Framework Agreement on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
SACI is already a founding member of The Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) and is currently taking part in the discussions concerning the launch of the Federation of Commonwealth Chemical Societies.
All of these partnerships allow South African chemists to take part and to contribute to the global chemistry community.
How important is the field of chemistry for a developing country such as South Africa?
Chemistry is a central science with impact in many of the applied sciences. It is core to many technological aspects of the economy and plays an important part in developing the expertise needed to move our economy to a more dynamic one. South Africa has committed itself to the United Nation's SDGs and it is clear that, as chemists, we have an important role to play in addressing many of these challenges.
Photo: Stefan Els
