President's Letter - August 2020
Written by Dr Yvonne Mah, FRACI CChem
Published 10 August 2020
We are the voice for the chemical sciences.
Women in STEMM, Year of the Nurse and Midwife
Dear RACI Victorian Branch community,
I hope everyone is well while in Stage 4 lockdown. Together we will get through this. I personally have been working from home since March. My days are now blended together, a different order of lifestyle. In the past, life constituted leaving the house for the day to go to work and back at the end of the day. The positive highlight for me is that I do not experience traffic jams. The negative is that it can be isolating; I feel isolated to the world. Therefore, it is important to make time to maintain a good level of well-being, ‘me-time’ and keeping connected with others. There are many applications online such as meditations, exercise, art. For keeping connected, there is a continuous pipe-line of virtual events, networking, webinar, couching, coffee-time. I want to thank our RACI community for working endlessly to making these events happen digitally.
Life has tremendously evolved in the digital universe; there is so much happening in this space. We have become more collaborative and reliant on this mode of communication. Last month, we held three new major events Chemistry on the Couch led by Dr Claire Weekley, Trivia Night, the Southern States series led by a team of John Franceschini, Tayla Chick, Ryan Condie and Alyce Scanlon-Batt and Art of the Deal by Dr. Brett Carter. These were received very well. We are looking forward to more of these series.
This month will also have a few significant virtual events. The virtual event across Australia, ‘Getting To Know You’ led by the Victorian Women in Chemistry Group will be held on Tuesday 11 August. Our recipient of the annual Hartung Lecture Series 2020, Dr. Jessica Holien will present during National Science Week, 15 – 23 August across Australia. Friday, 28 August is Wear It Purple Day, an awareness day for fostering inclusivity. RACI and BASF will collaboratively hold a free webinar across Australia and New Zealand with keynote speaker, Cameron Schwab; Founder and CEO of designCEO and former CEO of Richmond FC. The Retirees’ Lunch led by Dr. Richard Thwaites continues to occur monthly. Please set up your calendar to ensure that you do not miss any of these wonderful events to keep yourselves connected.
From a RACI Victorian Branch Committee organization perspective, we are seeking volunteers to step into the roles for Social Media/digital communications and Inclusion and Diversity. Please look out for more details in our communications to you. We are delighted to announce the office bearers of the Analytical Chemistry Group led by Dr. Rajesh Ramanathan as Chair. Congratulations to Dr. Melinda Christopherson as Treasurer, Dr. Katie Ganio as Social Media Officer, Shaan Floyd as Secretary. The Chair Elect will be announced later.
The national RACI mentoring program, Chemraderie led by Dave Sammut continues to strengthen. Mentors and mentees are welcome to participate particularly from the fields of biomedicine, biopharmacy and its related fields. RACI continues to foster the spirit of acknowledging and appreciating contributions to the chemical sciences. Please reach out to your peers and encourage them to be nominees for the annual awards in the various categories of laboratory technicians, teachers, educators, supervisors and mentors. We hope to announce these awards on the day of the RACI Victorian Branch annual general meeting which will be held on 16 September.
We continue to have monthly Open Branch Meetings and all members are welcome. Don’t forget to drop me a line so we can communicate and share inspiring stories within our community. Appreciate and celebrate the Nurse and Midwife J
Warmest wishes to you.
Stay safe. Your health counts,
Yvonne
Yvonne Mah PhD FRACI CCHEM
Victorian Branch President
