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The Relevance of Sustainable Laboratory Practices and Green Labs

Green Molecules stand out against a white background, in a green text bubble black text reads: The Relevance of Sustainable Laboratory Practices and Green Labs. To the right of the text is a picture of a blonde-haired, young, white man smiling, his name reads Thomas Freese, University of Groningen. The logos for IUPAC, CHEMRAWN, and Beyond Benign sit in the bottom left corner.
Event Date
-
Event Type
Lead Organizers
Hosting Organization(s)
Beyond Benign, Inc.
Additional Host Organizations
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, CHEMRAWN

Event Description

Join IUPAC CHEMRAWN and Beyond Benign in a webinar featuring Thomas Freese (University of Groningen, Netherlands) to discuss sustainable laboratory practices. In this event, guidelines and hands-on advice on how to make your laboratory greener at research institutions and industry will be presented, as well as examples of achieving systemic change for a sustainable future. If you have any questions in advance for Thomas, feel free to add them in below! We are looking forward to seeing you there!


 

Making strides in sustainable laboratories: Examples of recent initiatives

Chemistry World and RSC webinar image showing generic lab glassware and the title of the event
Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
Royal Society Of Chemistry

Event Description

Lab sustainability is increasingly at the forefront of decision making in science centres around the world, as evidenced by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Sustainable Labs report and the high level of interest in the RSC Sustainable Lab grants. 

 

In this hour-long, interactive webinar you will hear from recipients of the first round of the RSC Sustainable Labs grant whose projects seek to answer questions in topics areas including solvent choices and reuse of single use plastics. You will hear about the problems they’re trying to solve and how findings from their initial results can be actioned. By joining this webinar, you will learn how chemical scientists are looking to solve challenges faced when making more sustainable choices in the lab. You will also hear perspectives on the broader challenges in sustainable labs and efforts by the wider research community – including major funders – to drive more sustainable laboratory practices. 

 

The webinar will provide useful and actionable information as well as highlighting the opportunity to apply for the second round of RSC Sustainable Laboratories grants. 

 

The RSC will send a certificate of attendance to everyone who joins us live for the event. Please make sure you register using exactly the name you want on the certificate.

 

Note: this webinar will run from 3 - 4 pm British Standard Time (10 - 11 am Eastern Time).
 

2025 ACS Great Lakes Regional Meeting

GLRM 2025: Chemistry for a Better Planet
Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
ACS Great Lakes Regional Board

Event Description

With the theme "Chemistry for a Better Planet" this Regional Meeting will bring more than 400 chemists from industry, academia, and government sectors together for symposia on a wide range of topics including green and sustainable chemistry. The call for abstracts will appear in Chemical & Engineering News in early 2025.

Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education (BCCE)

A wooden barrel is labelled in rugged font: Distilling Solutions for Chemical Education. Biennial Conference for Chemical Education, University of Kentucky, July 28- August 1st 2024. Lexington, KY.
Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
University of Kentucky

Event Description

The conference will be held on the beautiful campus of University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky in the Summer of 2024. The 28th BCCE, like all of its predecessors, is designed to provide you with opportunities for interacting with chemistry instructors of all levels in formal and informal settings. There will be a mixture of symposia, workshops, poster sessions, exhibits, and tours of chemistry research areas.

 

Registration for BCCE 2024 is now live. Early bird pricing is available until May 31!  The registration form includes workshops, on-campus housing options, and more.  Those who have submitted abstracts will be notified in April about their submission.

 

The conference will be organized around four themes - Classroom Practice and Learning Environments, Curriculum and Cognition, Assessment and Research Methods, and Professional Development - within the K-12, two-year college, and university communities.

Instructions for presenters are available.

 

Connect with attendees and stay up to date with the conference on the GCTLC's BCCE 2024 forum thread!

 


Sunday

Workshop: Introduction to Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories
8:30am - 11:45am
Chaired by: John De Backere (University of Toronto)

Authors: Jonathon Moir, John De Backere, David Laviska, Jane Wissinger

Green Chemistry is a framework that helps “minimize or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances” in chemical processes and products. It is our responsibility as instructors to educate our students with respect to green chemistry, sustainability, and environmental issues to prepare them as future members of the workforce and agents of change in the world. Importantly, this has recently been recognized in the new ACS Guidelines for Bachelor's Degree Programs as a critical requirement, whereby curricula must provide students with a working knowledge of the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry.

This interactive half-day (3h) workshop is aimed towards laboratory instructors at two- and four-year undergraduate institutions teaching curricula in all areas of specialization. We will illustrate the connection between fundamental principles of green chemistry, safety, and traditional teaching laboratory protocols (further examples provided in the accompanying symposium, see below for details). Participants will gain an understanding of not only practical aspects of greening undergraduate labs, but also ways of modifying assessments and content to improve pedagogical aspects of laboratory learning to include more topics around green chemistry and broader sustainability concepts. Participants will then divide into small sub-discipline specific groups to share experiments currently used in their courses, and discuss possible modifications to their own lab manuals to make them “greener”. After reflecting on current curricula, we will explore a number of useful resources for integrating theory into practice, such as the new online Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC). The workshop will conclude by creating personal action plans for implementing sustainable changes, both practically and pedagogically, to current experiments or potentially new experiments to be developed.

This workshop complements the symposium entitled “Frontiers in Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability into the Teaching Laboratory”, which will provide recent examples of "greener" teaching experiments.

 

Monday

Poster: Addressing the knowledge gap through professional education initiatives for educators to promote the global integration of sustainable chemistry into curricula

6:00pm - 6:55pm

Presented By: Monica Nyansa

The design for sustainable solutions to global challenges creates a critical need to develop a future workforce proficient in practicing and teaching the principles of sustainable chemistry. This entails equipping present and future scientists with the requisite skills in green chemistry and sustainability. The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently updated its Guidelines for Bachelor’s Degree Programs to incorporate green chemistry and sustainability into the learning outcomes as a normal expectation for coursework in ACS-approved degree programs.

Beyond Benign, an educational nonprofit that is a prominent advocate for green chemistry education worldwide plays a pivotal role in supporting the integration of green chemistry and sustainable practices into the chemistry curriculum. This support extends to the development and dissemination of curricular materials and resources created directly with educators and strategic partners through their Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) and the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) platform. Another way Beyond Benign supports this endeavor is through the exploration of professional educational opportunities, empowering educators to integrate green chemistry and sustainability principles into the chemistry curriculum effectively, thus nurturing the next generation of scientists adept at addressing global challenges through sustainable chemistry practices.

This presentation aims to highlight the ongoing efforts of Beyond Benign, a champion of green chemistry education, to explore professional educational opportunities for educators, facilitating the integration of green and sustainable chemistry into the chemistry curriculum for a sustainable future.

 

Tuesday

Green Chemistry Education: Empowering the Global Community
in S60: Promoting Global Collaboration in Chemistry Education: Insights from International Initiatives |8:30am - 10:00am

Talk Presented By: Amy Cannon

The field of chemistry, providing the molecular building blocks of materials and products used throughout society, has a critical and foundational role in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations. Green chemistry, the use and design of less hazardous chemical products, is essential in providing solutions in order to achieve these ambitious goals. As the global demand for greener, more sustainable chemicals and materials grows, the chemistry education system must shift in order to meet this demand. Green chemistry education is required to train scientists and professionals with the skills to address hazards and mitigate impacts at the earliest stages of the product lifecycle. Beyond Benign, a non-profit organization based in the USA, has been leading green educational initiatives aimed at empowering educators to change chemistry education for a sustainable future. As the organization has grown, so has the outreach and engagement with the global chemistry education community. With specific goals to scale the adoption of green chemistry within higher education systems globally, this presentation will share Beyond Benign’s approach to building community and engaging educators, empowering them to be transformative change agents. Specifically, the Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) program, an institutional commitment towards including green chemistry in college level chemistry programs, and the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC), an on-line platform supporting educators on their journeys, will be highlighted. Each program aims to build upon work in North America and authentically engage and empower the global community to adopt green chemistry in their teaching and practice.

 

Development of an open-access, community-driven, peer-reviewed library of green chemistry educational materials in Drupal 10: The Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC)

in S233: Computers in Chemical Education | 10:15am - 11:45 am

Talk Presented By: Jonathon Moir

The Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) is a virtual space for higher education faculty and lecturers as well as K-12 teachers to find and share resources, participate in peer-to-peer learning, and connect and network with other users from around the world. The mission of the GCTLC is to help advance the integration of green chemistry across education systems worldwide to help train the next generation of scientists and workers with the knowledge and skills to address sustainability challenges across the globe. The platform allows users to connect with others through forums, group spaces, events, a job board, and more. Of particular note is the GCTLC’s open-access, peer-reviewed and community-driven library of over 190 curriculum resources. These include greener lab experiments, course modules, lecture slides, assessments and exams, journal articles, and more. Users can browse the existing collections via searching based on keyword terms, by contributor, by title, or by other filters, and can submit their own original work to the library or submit existing resources found elsewhere on the internet. Submitted resources undergo a simplified peer review process, managed by the GCTLC’s Chief Editor, and upon acceptance are published in the GCTLC’s searchable library (and, if warranted, added to new or existing curated collections on the platform). This presentation will overview the development and management of the GCTLC’s library and peer-review system using Drupal 10, including use of taxonomy terms, moderation states and workflows, and dynamic content displays. Ultimately this presentation will showcase the utility of open-source programming in creating inclusive spaces for educational communities of practice.

 

B19: Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) Get-Together and Share-a-thon

1:00pm - 1:45pm
Chaired By: Jonathon Moir and Nimrat Obhi

This Birds of a Feather is a chance to come learn about the GCTLC and meet other GCTLC users (in-person!) from around the world. After some informal socializing, Beyond Benign's team members will walk through the basics of the GCTLC platform and jump into a group sharing session including an in-person resource upload (hackathon style)! We ask all attendees to bring their personal laptops to participate in the share-a-thon!

Attendees may ask for a "to go" container for their lunch from Champions Kitchen and bring it with you to the Birds of a Feather session.

 

Fostering a sense of belonging on the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) online platform

in S98: Effective Approaches to Inclusive Chemistry Education | 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Talk Presented by: Nimrat Obhi

Green chemistry education is essential in helping chemists and people with chemistry training to achieve global sustainability targets such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Inclusive communities of practice are needed to foster and facilitate transformative change in chemistry education for widespread knowledge and adoption of green chemistry. Beyond Benign – a non-profit organization advocating for global green chemistry education – has created the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC), a free online platform that is the meeting place for a global green chemistry education community of practice. The GCTLC offers community-driven spaces and peer-to-peer mentoring, access to a searchable library of open-access green chemistry educational resources, an events calendar, a job board, and more.

Ensuring the GCTLC is and remains an inclusive community of practice for green chemistry educators involves interweaving diversity, equity, belonging, and respect principles throughout the entire development and sustenance of the platform. This presentation will outline our efforts to design an online space prioritizing educators’ feelings of belonging, community, and growth. We will discuss drafting a Code of Conduct for the platform, creating equitable and accessible community spaces, finding open-access resources for educators that include methods to decolonize and diversify green chemistry, running global community events, and creating an inclusive community engagement strategy for all users. Ultimately, we will discuss using open-access online platforms to strengthen a pipeline of green chemistry practitioners who are empowered to transform chemistry education.

 


Wednesday

B24: Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) Program: Lunch and Learn about Professional Development and Grants
12:00pm - 12:45pm

Chaired By: Amy Cannon, Monica Nyansa

Join Beyond Benign staff and faculty from Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) institutions for sharing green chemistry education best practices and networking over lunch. This session is open to all who are interested in incorporating green chemistry into their curriculum or interested in learning more about Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry Commitment program and/or the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) online platform. Attendees will learn about the new benefits of the GCC program, including the GCTLC platform, green chemistry education challenge awards, and free on-demand professional development in green chemistry and toxicology for signing institution members to access through the GCC program only but open to all at a sustainable cost.

Attendees may ask for a "to go" container for their lunch from Champions Kitchen and bring it with you to the Birds of a Feather session.

 

S31: Current Research on the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory
Chaired by: Nikita Burrows (Monmouth University) , Monica Nyansa (Michigan Technological University, Beyond Benign) , Mary Ross (Central College)

This symposium will focus on current qualitative and quantitative research related to the undergraduate chemistry laboratory curriculum. Contributed papers should address research related to any aspect of the undergraduate laboratory. This includes, but is not limited to, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, instructors, students, laboratory curriculum, pre-laboratory assignments, laboratory assessments, cognitive, affective or psychomotor factors, etc. Related research on laboratory design for exploring student’s engagement in chemistry laboratory may also be addressed.


Two-Day Symposium: Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability into Chemistry Education

Chaired By: Loyd Bastin (Widener University), and David Laviska (ACS Green Chemistry Institute)

This symposium will highlight the incorporation of green chemistry and sustainability principles throughout the chemistry curriculum as well as through co-curricular activities such as clubs, organizations and service-learning opportunities. The focus will be on green chemistry and sustainability materials and models rooted in the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry that are designed to educate high school, community college, four year college and graduate students. These materials will include classroom teaching modules/courses, learning methods, educational research, laboratory experiments and experiences, the integration of toxicology into the chemistry curriculum, and the use of systems-thinking.

#LatinXChem24

The graphic shows the LatinXChem logo: the words Latin and Chem divided by a bubbling beaker  encircled by molecular rings in the shape of an x. The logo stands against a black background above the logos and names of sponsors and partners which are against a white background.
Event Date
-
Event Type

Event Description

What is #LatinXChem?

@LatinXChem is a virtual forum through which the community of Latin American chemists located anywhere in the world can share and discuss their research results and advances.

​More than 1200 posters from 43 countries were received in its first version, with 20 million impacts on Twitter.

​The fifth event organized by @LatinXChem will be the #LatinXChem23 Conference (October 14 and 15, 2024).

 

Advantages

  • ​You can participate whether you work at home or in the laboratory.
  • ​Being a virtual event, you do not need to travel, the costs decrease substantially, without demerit to the quality of the work or to the scientific discussion they will generate. Additionally, its environmental footprint is lower.
  • For each category, the best works will be selected for an award. Our sponsors will deliver prizes (book vouchers) for 100-200 USD. The best poster overall for the event will be awarded a special prize (150 USD) and one prize for the most popular work (150 USD).

 

Follow-up Steps

  • Posters can be presented in Spanish, Portuguese, or English.​​
  • Tweet your poster. Include the title, abstract, your category hashtag, and the main event hashtag (#LatinXChem24) at 12:00 pm (UTC) on October 14, 2024; The event will last 48 hours.​
  • Discuss and share your work on any social media. Make sure to respond to questions from the community and juries.
  • Choose any dimension or format for your poster: the important point is that the text and figures are legible. We strongly recommend visualizing it on Twitter before the conference.

Emerald Isle Conference on Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
Queen's University Belfast

Event Description

We are delighted to announce the inaugural Emerald Isle Conference on Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, which will be held in Belfast from 9th to 11th April 2025.

International green chemists, engineers, and educators will meet to share best practice and strengthen collaboration. A line up of global thought leaders will offer insights to help shape the future direction of green chemistry and engineering education, research, and industry.

We have an exciting list of invited speakers, who will also participate in a panel discussion. Pioneers of green chemistry and engineering will be there from both sides of the pond, including John Warner, Paul Anastas, Julie Zimmerman, Roger Sheldon, Walter Leitner and Martyn Poliakoff. 

More details to follow soon.

CIC Green Division's Inaugural Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
Chemical Institute of Canada

Event Description

We are excited to announce that the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) has created the CIC Green Subject Division. Its objective is to bring together the community of researchers and practitioners of the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) and Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) who identify as contributing to, or having an interest in, green chemistry and chemical engineering.
 
The new Green Subject Division will:

  • Organize symposia on green and sustainable chemistry, technology, and chemical engineering at the annual CSC and CSChE conferences. 
  • Bolster industrial participation at the annual CSC and CSChE conferences. 
  • Provide professional training in green/sustainable practices at the annual CSC and CSChE conferences. 
  • Present Canadian Green Chemistry and Engineering Awards. 
  • …and further activities that will serve our community.

*Save the date*
The Green Division's inaugural Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held by Zoom on Tuesday, Jun.18 at 1 PM ET.

Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 850 7250 8961
Passcode: 871250

The AGM can be accessed via the Green Division Webpage.

Positions of leadership are open! At the AGM, we will elect a Division Chair, Division Vice-Chair, and Division Secretary-Treasurer as well as up to six (6) Division Members at Large.  If you or someone you know would be interested, please ask them to communicate with Joelle Pelletier at joelle.pelletier@umontreal.ca. Spread the news to your research group and colleagues!
 
If you will attend CSC 2024 in Winnipeg, we will also be holding an Information Session on Tuesday June 4 from 5:20 to 7:20 (Central Time) in Room 9.  Please drop by, learn more and get involved. All those interested in green and sustainable chemistry, technology and chemical engineering are welcome, including students and postdocs: we invite all to contribute to shaping the new Green Subject Division. 
 
We look forward to working with you to make the CIC Green Subject Division part of our future.
 

38th Philippine Chemistry Congress (38PCC) and 2024 International Conference on Chemistry (IC2)

38th Philippine Chemistry Congress (38PCC) and 2024 International Conference on Chemistry (IC2)
Event Date
Annually on the 21st of July at 8:00am
Recent
  • -
Lead Organizers
Additional Host Organizations
Integrated Chemists of the Philippines, Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas

Event Description

The Philippine Chemistry Congress is the biggest annual conference of chemists, chemistry educators and chemistry researchers in the Philippines. This brings chemists from academe, industry and government together in one venue to interact, share new knowledge and to collaborate. The 38PCC&2024IC2 will also feature technical exhibitors who will be able to showcase new products that can improve your performance and productivity, create partnerships, and generate new ideas.

Biomimicry Thinking: Innovation inspired by Nature's chemistry - Register by July 15

Come on adventure to learn about Nature's chemistry
Event Date
-
Lead Organizers
Hosting Organization(s)
Biomimicry 3.8
Additional Host Organizations
NatuR&D

Event Description

Registration closes Monday, July 15, 2024

On the territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations of the Pacific Northwest, the trees are deep in conversation and negotiation via mycelial networks. The salmon return to make the stream bed fresh and cool for the next generation, while coastal nurseries provide a place to rest where old meets new and salty meets sweet.

Join us for a week to observe and explore how Nature creates the richness and complexity of life through chemistry. Adventure through the ecotones to learn the ways in which Nature operates at the molecular scale to communicate, assemble/ disassemble, purify, clean, colorize, protect, detect, repair, and a host of other functionalities that parallel those needed in commerce.  

Tune your senses through exploration, experience, and experts to understand the critical ways in which Nature’s chemistry differs from modern commercial chemistries to achieve the same functional end, and how this learning can broaden and benefit your approach to Nature-positive R&D.

The fields of chemistry and biomimicry will converge to explore the profound lessons nature offers for shaping a world characterized by high-performing chemistry strategies and materials that benefit the people and places in which they are made, used, and managed. Sip tea and watch the eelgrass sway while you practice Biomimicry Thinking with Nature’s recipes and methods.

 

While the content is designed with the non-chemist in mind, chemistry professionals will gain valuable insights into Nature’s life-friendly chemistry principles and hands-on training using the biomimicry research methodology.

Throughout this workshop, our world-renowned biomimicry instructors will teach participants to: 

  • Recognize the roles chemistry plays in the natural world and their relevance to the roles chemistry plays in commerce and industry,
  • Distinguish between biotic and abiotic chemistries in the natural world,
  • Discover the principles underlying Nature’s elegant and sophisticated life-friendly chemistries,
  • Understand the principles underlying Nature’s multifunctional, life-friendly chemistry-based materials,
  • Use Biomimicry Thinking tools to abstract chemistry design principles and deep patterns from specific, function-based natural strategies, and
  • Apply Biomimicry Thinking tools to solve a chemistry-related challenge.

This workshop is open to professional and university-level participants from all backgrounds and levels of experience with biomimicry. The agenda is designed for:

  • Innovators within commercial sectors touched by chemistry, such as chemicals, cosmetics, packaging, textiles, electronics, personal care, medical, and energy, who are interested in bringing Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius to their project work and innovation strategies through Biomimicry Thinking.
  • Innovators without chemistry training who are interested in gaining the knowledge that would allow them to be productive partners alongside professional chemists as they work to bring Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius to their project work and innovation strategies.
  • Sustainability champions who want to be inspired by the natural world at the molecular scale as they work to solve humanity’s toughest sustainability challenges.
  • Educators who want to bring Nature’s Chemistry and materials genius into the classroom.
  • Students enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Biomimicry program with Arizona State University interested in the Biomimicry Specialist Certification. This Immersion Workshop counts as one of two required in-person units. Learn more about the requirements for the Biomimicry Specialist Certification here.

Catalysing Change: Bringing sustainable chemistry to your boss

Drawing of two hands exchanging a book, with the time and date of the webinar.
Event Date
-
Event Type
Hosting Organization(s)
Green Rose Chemistry

Event Description

Join this free webinar from Green Rose Chemistry to learn how you can accelerate change in your organisation by advocating for sustainable chemistry. This webinar is empowering, practical, and completely free. Anyone can create change!

 

What will you learn?

 

  • How green chemistry can provide environmental and social benefits 
  • The business value of green chemistry, including market opportunities and risk avoidance
  • Strategies for effectively promoting green chemistry in your workplace with clear examples
  • Case studies of employees successfully bringing about change from within their companies

The webinar will be delivered by Anna Zhenova, CEO & Founder of Green Rose Chemistry and IUK Unlocking Potential Award winner. Anna is a green chemist with a passion for the innovative side of sustainable chemistry. She excels in translating academic expertise to real-world applications, and wants to help you accelerate the transition to more sustainable materials.

 

Register now and join the green industrial revolution!