There is much to look forward to for the young chemists who are participating in IUPAC|CHAINS 2023. Next to the broad range of scientific sessions, a special Young Program is being put together, aimed entirely at connecting young researchers. ‘Where other programs focus mainly on hard science, we focus more on soft skills,’ says Koen van den Helder, co-chair of the Young Program committee. ‘We therefore organise interactive and informal sessions that are very interesting for your career.’  

Three parts  

The Young Program consists of three parts. First, there are workshops that run alongside the regular parallel sessions. These workshops focus on, for example, grant application writing, networking, digital skills and communicating about your research. ‘Relevant and insightful topics that help to make you a better chemist’, says Van den Helder.   

The second activity will be meet & greets with plenary and invited speakers, probably in an interactive Q&A-type setting. Van den Helder: ‘During these sessions, we don’t want to focus on the science, but on the careers of these researchers. What are the choices they have made and what can we learn from those?’ It looks like some big names are going to join in. ‘Many plenary speakers have already agreed to participate, and Ben Feringa would like to pass by. They all cherish the opportunity to interact with the next generation of chemists, so they would love to hear your questions.’  

Finally, the foyer of the Young Program on Wednesday morning is geared towards informal meetings. ‘The exact format is still to be decided’, says Van den Helder. ‘But we are thinking of speed dates with companies, CV checks, that kind of activities. All in a relaxed atmosphere where you can easily establish new contact that can help you along in your career.’  

Once-in-a-lifetime 

Van den Helder himself is already looking forward to the big event: ‘I can’t wait until it starts and we can bring all these young researchers together. We have been working towards this with an international team for over a year now, and we hope that the program we have put together will appeal to people.’   

His advice to everyone, but especially to young researchers, is therefore to register and come to The Hague in August. ‘Conferences are always good for your network and you can get lots of great new ideas. And the nice thing is that this time it is much bigger than just CHAINS. Being present at such a big international conference in The Netherlands is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I would grab it.’