32 February / March 2016


The Chromatographic Society 60th Anniversary, 2016


Readers of Chromatography Today will no doubt be aware not only from our President’s Foreword but also from various mentions in articles through 2015 that 2016 is the year when The Chromatographic Society (the name evolving from its earlier guises of Gas Chromatography Discussion Group and then Chromatography Discussion Group) has been in existence for 60 years. Over the year we will be celebrating this fact but what is highly pertinent now at the beginning of the year is to make sure that everyone knows what The Chromatographic Society is and why we think it is worthwhile celebrating that we are still around.


To quote from our own Rules, The Chromatographic Society is an organisation set up ‘to promote the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge and understanding concerning chromatography and associated techniques’. The Rules then go on to describe the ways in which we will fulfil this principal aim. These activities have been many and varied and have evolved over the 60 years but what matters most is that we are still here and still relevant today. Throughout the year you will be hearing more about our illustrious past and indeed you can go to our website www.chromsoc.com and read all about it in our Golden Jubilee Souvenir Brochure prepared by Ted Adlard (Society Chairman 1970 – 73 and 1978-1982) for 2006. So, for now, we can focus more on how we have stayed true to our aims over the past decade.


The early 2000’s were a tough time for the Society, during which time we decided to no longer run our own dedicated office. However, long term this has proved to be to our benefit so that we can now lay claim to being a much leaner, meaner machine! Under the guidance of the then President, Chris Bevan, we worked hand-in-glove with industry during the Big Pharma boom years (characterised by the AZ / GSK / Pfizer ‘Triad’ meetings to celebrate our Golden Jubilee and in so doing were able to put our finances in a much healthier shape. Since that time we have weathered global recession, staying active and meeting the needs of our fellow chromatographers during difficult times for them.


Not surprisingly our activities in support of the development of chromatography are different from the days of the Gas Chromatography Discussion Group. In the early 1980’s the Society boasted a membership of well over 1000, largely on the back of our Chromatography Abstracts booklets issued on a regular basis (to this day my hand-writing frequently breaks down into non- joined-up lower case print through having completed by hand many an ‘abstract card’). Also, for over twenty years, up until 2000, the Society produced its own Bulletin which, though not usually the four copies-per-quarter that it was intended to be, often ran to over 80 pages and had its unique, almost Private Eye-esque style developed by highly industrious Editor, Ian Davies (while running his own company and being one of Cambridge’s leading campanologists!). Fast forwarding, in the days of the Internet and highly sophisticated search engines, books of abstracts are superfluous and the Society’s


Figure 1: June 2010 Spring Symposium at MSD (Hoddesdon) it’s heads down and everyone is raring to go. We are back there in May, 2016 for the Spring Symposium automation in the separation science laboratory.”


means of communication are still healthy and fit for the times. We no longer have a Bulletin, but since the early 2000’s have had our own website (currently being revamped), have in 2015, started up our members-only ChromCom magazine and, very importantly, have struck up a relationship with International Labmate to collaborate on Chromatography Today, a quality magazine with global reach which has sustainable impact for approaching eight years now.


We are no longer one of the three key stakeholders in the International Symposium on Chromatography series but have played a principal role in ensuring that this series is now organised on a much more representative pan-European basis and are every bit as active in proactively supporting international conferences. This is none the more so through our student bursary and John Dolphin Fellowship schemes. Through our healthy financial position we are able to do much more on assisting student attendance at chromatography meeting. Also, we have been able to nurture the Reid International Bioanalytical Forum through to the leadership by a new generation of bioanalysts and, under the stewardship of Alan Handley, closer integration with the Society. Further, our longstanding Martin and Jubilee medals presented at major conferences remain highly prestigious and sought after by the great and good of chromatography even in these days of award proliferation. We deliberate long and hard over these awards and like to think we get it right.


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