An organic chemistry conference in South Africa that welcomes postgraduate students

Organic chemists from South Africa will gather in Limpopo at the begining of December

The Frank Warren National Organic Conference (FWC), organized every three year by the Organic Chemistry Division of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI-OCD), will be held from  3^rd to 7^th December 2023 in Polokwane, Limpopo Province. The FWC is a national conference where local organic chemists from all sub-disciplines gather to share, showcase, discuss and share insights about their work.

A key feature of the conference is not having any break-away sessions such that all delegates can attend and participate in the discussions of all lectures. This is particularly beneficial for the exposure postgraduate students to the current results in all fields of organic chemistry; postgraduate participants constitute approximately 75% of all conference delegates.

A crucible for collaboration

The single venue presentations help to expand the networking and collaboration opportunities for delegates outside their narrow focus areas. This can result in spill-over effects in co-published articles and the general enhancement of research exposure and value.

In recent years there has been greater participation by international delegates due to increasing external collaborative links of South African chemists. The extension of this networking has also resulted in dual-hosting arrangements (Bi-National Organic Chemistry Conference BOCC) with other chemical societies like the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC -2001), German Chemical Society (GDCh -2008), and the American Chemical Society (ACS-2014).

Invited speakers

The list of invited speakers is as follow:

• Prof WT Mabusela (University of Western Cape, South Africa);
• Prof Tobias Ritter (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kohlenforschung, Germany);
• Prof Neil Koorbanally (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa);
• Prof Moses Langat (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UK);
• Dr BG Hlangothi (Nelson Mandela University, South Africa);
• Prof Dr Colleen Scott (Mississippi State University, USA);
• Prof Willem van Otterlo (Stellenbosch University, South Africa);
• Prof David Khanye (Rhodes University);
• Dr Paseka Moshapo (University of Johannesburg);
• Dr Njabulo Gumede (Walter Sisulu University);
• Prof Amanda Rousseau (University of the Witwatersrand);
• Dr Jenny-Lee Panayides (CSIR);
• Prof Clinton Veale (University of Cape Town).