All Department of Chemistry courses

The session will cover the use of electronic laboratory notebook which is a computer programme designed to replace laboratory notebooks. ELN will help the users to document research, experiments and procedures performed in a laboratory.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7507381413 Meeting ID: 750 738 1413

PhD students have plenty of options once you graduate. In this interactive session we will look at the pros and cons of different career options. You will have a chance to think about what you want your work to do for you and what you can offer employers, and you will learn ways to find out more about jobs in which you are interested. It is recommended that you attend both sessions.

• Session 1 - What jobs are out there and deciding what is ‘right’ for me?

Chemistry PhD students have many options after graduation. In this 1-hour session we will explore the pros and cons of different career choices. We will also consider how to assess which options would work for you.

• Session 2 - Career options for PhDs in chemistry

In this second 1-hour session we will focus on generating specific job ideas, how you might structure your careers ‘research’, key questions to ask and timelines for starting your ‘search’ for your next step after Cambridge.

Join Cambridge Careers Consultant Raj Sidhu for a discursive and interactive session where you will learn:

• What career options are open to you after a Chemistry PhD or PostDoc
• What alumni of the Department of Chemistry are doing now
• How to structure and approach career-thinking, during your PhD or PostDoc

All questions will be warmly welcomed throughout.

This session is compulsory for all experimentalists to attend and will provide useful information regarding analytical facilities at this Department including NMR, Mass Spectrometry, X-ray Crystallography, Microanalysis and Electron Microscopy. Short descriptions will be given of all available instruments, as well as explain the procedures for preparing/submitting samples for the analysis will also be discussed.

Once you book on to this course, you will receive a link to preregister for this course on Zoom.

This training will consist of two sessions, introducing you to use of both Water's MS software and MassLynx and Bruker and Thermo's MS software: MALDI and Orbitrap.

Once you book on the course you will receive a link to preregister on Zoom.

This course will provide an idea of what kind of scientific problems can be solved by solid state NMR. It will cover how NMR can be used to study molecular structure, nanostructure and dynamics in the solid state, including heterogeneous solids, such as polymers, MOFs, energy-storage and biological materials This course will build on a basic working knowledge of solution-state NMR for 1H and 13C, i.e. undergraduate level NMR. In order to highlight the utility of this technique, some materials based research using solid state NMR will also be covered.

This session will be delivered via Zoom.

These lectures will introduce the basics of crystallography and diffraction, assuming no prior knowledge. The aim is to provide an overview that will inspire and serve as a basis for researchers to use the Department’s single-crystal and/or powder X-ray diffraction facilities or to appreciate more effectively results obtained through the Department’s crystallographic services. The final lecture will be devoted to searching and visualising crystallographic data using the Cambridge Structural Database system.

Three workshops on aspects of writing for which the students would be expected to submit two pieces of written work that would be assessed by the instructor. The aim of the workshops will be for the students to improve both their scientific writing skills as well as their general academic literacy skills.

The specific areas of writing to be covered are:

• Literature Review
• Results section

Session One

Introduction to Academic Writing at PG Level

The aim of this session would be to prepare the foundations, as it were, covering the expectations of writing at PG level and covering some strategies for achieving what is the University’s only criterion when it comes to writing, namely that it is ‘clearly written’, before looking at writing in Chemistry specifically, and closing by looking at the two areas which will be the focus of the next two sessions – Literature Reviews and Results Sections.

Why writing at PG level is so hard

• Understanding the Writing Process
• How English works: Achieving Clarity
• Rhetorical Templates
• Paragraphs
• Editing: from the Macro to the Micro
• Discipline-specific Considerations
• Literature Review & Results Section

Sessions Two & Three

• Literature Reviews
• Results Sections

For both of these sessions the students who be expected to have submitted work a week beforehand – this could be either individually or as a group. Each piece of work should be ca. 5 pages in length.

The two areas, Literature Reviews and Results Sections, will have been introduced in the introductory section. Students will also be able to access additional support materials when preparing their written work for submission before the workshop.

Each workshop would then essentially be based on the submissions of the group – looking and the strengths and weaknesses of a selection of them, encouraging discussion amongst the group as to what would need to be done in order to strengthen the submissions. This would also include a range of hands-on exercises that the students would do during the workshop, either individually or in a small group.

An opportunity ask questions to the course trainer re Fortran 90/95.

• Please email training@ch.cam.ac.uk to book one 15 minute slot. You will be asked to confirm your attendance one day before.

This hands-on course teaches the basics of Latex including syntax, lists, maths equations, basic chemical equations, tables, graphical figures and internal and external referencing. We also learn how to link documents to help manage large projects. The course manual is presented in the style of a thesis and since you also receive the source code you also receive a template for a thesis.

Once booked you will receive a link to both sessions via Zoom.

Communicating your research in an engaging and easily understood manner is important for any audience and all the more so for non-academic audiences. This workshop will take you through the art and science of engaging communication, and outline the opportunities and support within the University for public engagement.

The first half of this session will cover an overview of Raytracing versus 3D Modelling, an introduction to the free Raytracing programme Povray, running Povray (command line options). Making and manipulating simple shapes, camera tricks (depth of field, angle of view) and using other software to generate Povray input (e.g. Jmol)

The second half of the session is an introduction to 3D modelling and animation using the open source programme Blender. This will cover the installation and customisation of the Blender interface for use with chemical models, how to import chemical structures from Jmol and the protein data base (PDB), the basics of 3D modelling, and an introduction to Key-frame animation.

No previous experience with either 3D modelling or animation is required.

You will receive a Zoom link when you register for this course

Submission of the first year report can seem to be a daunting experience, from constructing it to submitting and then being assessed by academic staff. In this session, Marie Dixon (Degree Committee Office, School of Physical Sciences), Rachel MacDonald and Deborah Longbottom will talk through all aspects of procedure and answer any questions students wish to pose. Students who went through their first year exam, as well as members of academic staff who carry out first year vivas will also be there to talk about the reality of the process from all perspectives.

Submission of the PhD thesis can seem to be a daunting experience, from constructing it to submitting and then being examined, with one of those examiners coming from an external institution. In this session, Marie Dixon (Degree Committee Office, School of Physical Sciences), Rachel MacDonald and Deborah Longbottom will talk through all aspects of procedure regarding thesis submission and answer any questions students wish to pose. Students who were recently examined, as well as members of academic staff who carry out PhD vivas will also be there to talk about the reality of the process from all perspectives

Submission of an MPhil thesis can seem to be a daunting experience, from constructing it to submitting and then being examined, with one of those examiners coming from an external institution. In this session, Marie Dixon (Degree Committee Office, School of Physical Sciences), Rachel MacDonald and Deborah Longbottom will talk through all aspects of procedure regarding thesis submission and answer any questions students wish to pose. Students who were recently examined, as well as members of academic staff who carry out MPhil vivas will also be there to talk about the reality of the process from all perspectives.

FS1 - Successful Completion of a Research Degree An hour devoted to a discussion of how to plan your time effectively on a day to day basis, how to produce a dissertation/thesis (from first year report to MPhil to PhD) and the essential requirements of an experimental section.

FS2 - Dignity@Study The University of Cambridge is committed to protecting the dignity of staff, students, visitors to the University, and all members of the University community in their work and their interactions with others. The University expects all members of the University community to treat each other with respect, courtesy and consideration at all times. All members of the University community have the right to expect professional behaviour from others, and a corresponding responsibility to behave professionally towards others. Nick will explore what this means for graduate students in this Department with an opportunity to ask questions more informally.

This is a compulsory session for 1st year postgraduates.

You will be introduced to Fortran 90/95 and provided with materials which cover the basics of Fortran 90/95 with an emphasis on applications in the physical sciences. The key concepts of loops, functions, subroutines, modules, and other standard Fortran syntax will be introduced sequentially.

• This course will be made available on Moodle from 2 to 30 November

A thorough awareness of issues relating to research ethics and research integrity are essential to producing excellent research. This session will provide an introduction to the ethical responsibilities of researchers at the University, publication ethics and research integrity. This session will be accessed online. Instructions will be sent once your book your place.

This training is available via Moodle.

Unconscious Bias refers to the biases we hold that are not in our conscious control. Research shows that these biases can adversely affect key decisions in the workplace. The session will enable you to work towards reducing the effects of unconscious bias for yourself and within your organisation. Using examples that you will be able to relate to, we help you to explore the link between implicit bias and the impact on the organisation. The overall aim of the session is to provide participants with an understanding of the nature of Unconscious Bias and how it impacts on individual and group attitudes, behaviours and decision-making processes.

This compulsory session is intended to welcome new graduate students to the Department of Chemistry Library service in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session will briefly cover how the physical library space can be used and, most importantly, give you practical information on how you can access the wide range of electronic resources available to you remotely. It will also cover the services available to you from other Cambridge libraries.

This session is intended to set you up so you can start to do your research as efficiently and effectively as possible.

• Once booked onto the course, you will receive a link to pre-register on Zoom.

This session introduces three citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed (if relevant to the audience). These databases index all the scientific literature that is published. When used efficiently, and in combination, they are a powerful tool for finding the research publications you need - so you don't miss out on anything. They will be compared and contrasted with each other, and with using Google or Google Scholar, to find citations.

You will be guided on how to search these databases effectively; the session includes a hands-on element where you can practice. The session covers how to set up email alerts for searches and citations, so you can keep up with research published in your field. It also covers how to find metrics and altmetrics available for a journal, journal article, or author, so you can evaluate the quality of a piece of research, or a particular author's research before collaborating with them, for example. It will cover how to export the citations you find to your reference manager so you can easily create a bibliography and/or cite publications in your own work.

The session will be most suitable for those who are new to searching citation databases or would like a refresher.

Please register via Zoom

This compulsory online course will equip you with the skills required to manage the research information you will need to gather throughout your graduate course, as well as the publications you will produce yourself. It will also help you enhance your online research profile and measure the impact of research.

• This training will be made available on Moodle from 2nd November until 31st May 2021.

These optional drop-in sessions provide an opportunity for new chemistry graduate students who have completed the compulsory online IS4 Research Data Management and IS3 Information Research Skills courses to ask the trainer any questions they have about the content, or about how they can apply what they have learnt, in more detail.

• Please email training@ch.cam to book a 15 minute slot and you will receive a Zoom link. You will be asked to confirm your attendance one day before it takes place. If you do not confirm, your place will be offered to someone else.

This session introduces new undergraduate Chemistry students to the Department of Chemistry Library and its place within the wider Cambridge University Library system. It provides general information on what is available, where it is, and how to get it. Print and online resources are included.

This course explores how to write a paper and improve your writing style in Chemistry papers. The course will be particularly useful for those working on their first year report, MPhil thesis or an article.

This event is in-person only.