Employment and Careers of European Chemists (ESEC2)

Abstract

Employment conditions and career opportunities are in the focus of the new Employment Survey for European Chemists (ESEC2). Conditions and opportunities are individually analysed for all countries with a statistically significant number of responses. The results provide important clues for careers in these countries and in Europe as a whole. The importance of employer sectors varies very much between European countries. A chapter of this report is devoted to career planning of students and new graduates. This is the first general evaluation of the survey. It provides many details about the chemistry workforce in Europe and its development.

50 Years European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC) – The Ascent of Medicinal Chemistry in Europe

“…Second, the medicinal chemistry community has become more diverse in terms of gender. Attendees at EFMC-ISMC in Ljubljana (2018), for instance, were 35 % female, a figure which is close to the European average of 40 % women among scientists and engineers, [67] even though it is lower than the 52 % female postdocs and students who attended the meeting that year. This overall percentage has been in steady progression since the early 2000s ( Figure 6 and Supporting Information Table S5), and contrasts with the pre-2000 years (10-20 %), starting with even less than 8 % in 1970, when medicinal chemistry, as other branches of chemistry, was essentially an activity of male scientists.…”

Research and education in analytical chemistry — industrial and academic perspectives from a survey conducted in Sweden

“…There are several published surveys that have been conducted with a focus on the job market situation for chemists in Europe, e.g. [ 1 ] that clearly demonstrate that analytical chemists largely do not have trouble finding employment. Considering all areas of chemistry, training in analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, and chemical engineering are the three most desired educational backgrounds for recruiting companies.…”

“…(ECTS, The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). It has in parallel become increasingly difficult for industry to recruit competent analytical chemists [ 1 , 2 ]. For university researchers, it has become harder to obtain external funding for fundamental research in analytical chemistry, and one often heard opinion is that analytical chemistry is considered mainly as a “tool” for other disciplines.…”

The Role of Early‐Career Chemists in European Policy‐Making

“…Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), German Chemical Society (GDCh)) [54–55] . To better assess the employment challenges and employability of chemists, EuChemS regularly organizes surveys that provide insights into the labour market, education and career perspectives (Employment Survey for European Chemists) [56–58] . The results of these actions are shared with the scientific community and translated into recommendations for policy‐makers.…”