SETAC UK NEWS and MEETINGS:

Thank-you for your continued membership of SETAC and welcome to those of you who have just joined the Society. Here is the latest update of SETAC-UK activities..

• Scientific Activities in 2009

  SETAC-UK contributed to the ‘Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials’ Meeting, September 2009 in Vienna (http://nano2009.univie.ac.at). This was a broad meeting covering such aspects as environmental behavior and fate, biochemistry, ecotoxicological effects, detection and characterisation, industrial applications, and regulation and legislation. This was complemented with a workshop titled 'Characterisation of Nanoparticles'

  The Annual SETAC-UK Young Researchers Meeting was held at the Lancaster Environment Centre in July 2009. In total, 27 PhD students and early career PDRAs from around the UK attended. Keynote presentations were provided by Dr. Kirk Semple from LEC and Professor Ed Tipping from Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster. There were eight platform presentations and ten poster presentations from the conference attendees. >

  Best platform presentation was awarded to Tom Sizmur from Reading University for his talk entitled 'Impact of earthworms on metal mobility and availability', whilst the best poster was awarded to Emma Butler of Cranfield University, for her poster on the 'Inhibitory effects of triclosan on microbial respiration: Resistance and Resilience'. The event was sponsored by SETAC UK, the Society for Experimental Biology, Brixham Laboratories and the Environment Agency.

  

• Scientific Activities for 2010 and beyond

  Council members are busy updating our list of meetings ideas for the future, and firm plans are already in place for a number of upcoming meetings (please see relevant section).

  SETAC-UK are also currently finalising the SETAC-UK September 2010 meeting titled ‘Environmental Pollution in a Changing World’ (full details on the ‘scientific meetings page’). Additionally we are also involved with a meeting on ‘Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials’ in August 2010 (please also see ‘scientific meetings’ page for further information).

  We are encouraging student orientated events, and we are seeking views from the student members on possible topics for training workshops etc. So, if you have any ideas please contact the student representative on council.

• Changes to UK Council

  A number of office bearers have retired and also took up positions on council. SETAC-UK council is a vibrant and active group of scientists with a balance of members from academia, industry and government. The council members, and an indication of some of their current roles are now listed on the council member’s page. All council members are also involved in the scientific programmes and meetings.

• Young Researchers Meeting 2010

  This year the Young Researchers Meeting will be merged with the main SETAC Annual Meeting (see 'scientific meetings' page).

  This represents an ideal forum for early career scientists to meet Environmental Chemists, Ecotoxicologists, Biologists, Public Health Professionals, Regulators and Policy Makers, Government and Industry workers, and academic professionals. The one-day training event is aimed at early career scientists, and anyone wanting to obtain a professional overview of the risk assessment process for new chemicals.

  Additionally, all UK student members should consider attending the SETAC Europe Young Environmental Scientists (YES) meeting in Aachen, Germany 28th Feb - 2nd March 2011 (see flyer here). There are no conference fees and you can apply for travel grants (for presenting students) and there is reduced (or even free in some circumstances) accommodation.

• A Reminder: We would like to hear from any SETAC-UK members interested in hosting or organising a meeting or workshop in the UK. SETAC-UK can help by providing targeted publicity, and a network of potential speakers, sponsors and delegates. Collaborative meetings are especially welcome.

Fees Collection and Treasury Issues:

• Membership fee collection: SETAC-UK Council no longer collects membership fees direct from members. You should now renew your membership via the SETAC Europe Offices and if you have not yet renewed you should do this as soon as possible (contact SETAC-Europe at setac@setaceu.org). SETAC-UK has closed its bank account with Lloyds in order to stop any future direct debits to us, but if you still have a direct debit to SETAC-UK please cancel this as soon as possible. If there are any queries regarding direct debits or treasury issues, please initially contact Alsion Sapiets (SETAC-UK).