03.01.2022

Neujahrsgruß des GDCh-Präsidenten

Zum 1.Januar 2022 hat Dr. Karsten Danielmeier sein Amt als Präsident der GDCh angetreten. Hier sein Editorial der "Nachrichten aus der Chemie" sowie ein kurzes Vorwort:

Traditionally, the editorial in the January issue rightly starts with a “Thank you” to the outgoing President after the end of their presidency. This is a great tradition to follow.  “Dear Peter, as one of the 30000 GDCh members, I would like to thank you for your excellent leadership in these unusual times where we all had to learn to live with an unpredictable pandemic. You got into a storm with the GDCh, but you kept the ship GDCh safely on course, circumnavigated several cliffs and not only kept the direction, but also managed to set sail for a new and bright future. Kudos!” 

This journey started already with the last sentence of Peter’s editorial in January 2020 where  he referred to the English language as an important step to strengthen our evolving identity as part of the global scientific community. “Let’s talk to each other” was the last sentence in his article, which marked the next two years of his presidency, and this is also exactly how my journey to this presidency started; on the first day after my summer break, I received a call from Peter: “Let´s have a talk”! To my big surprise he did not want to talk about the progress of one of the project groups, but he asked me (after some casual small talk) whether I was interested in throwing my name into the ring to become president 2022 & 2023.

I was flabbergasted and asked for a week to think it over and cover my bases (family, friends and  Covestro). In the end, this is not just any society but an internationally renowned  scientific society with 150-years of honored heritage, a strong brand (GDCh), renowned journals and which is home to roughly 30,000 proud, passionate and enthusiastic members from all different fields of chemistry.

Long story short, I am honored to have received the green light and strong support from all sides, and especially for the trust of my colleagues in the GDCh board. I am excited to take on this new challenge and serve the GDCh to the best of my abilities. Thankfully, the Board  accepted my proposals for the position of Vice Presidents: Katharina Uebele and Peter Schreiner. Both of them combine plenty of experience in the GDCh, come from diverse backgrounds representing our members, and share with me ideas for the future of our society.

It is almost a truism to say that the future of the society cannot only be built on the successes of  the past, but we need to actively shape it to keep up with changes in society, science and the world around us.

How do we do this? Aligned with our GDCh vision statements, we want to continue our journey on the path of digitalization and online offerings. Our app has just successfully launched and will not be the only step we take. Corona has forced us to accelerate our understanding of digital tools, which we will continue and extend.

The society is not alone in these times of change; we can learn and exchange with our partners and friends in other international scientific societies. We need to open the GDCh even more as international exchange becomes more important, and we would like to be a home for everyone interested in the German Chemical community. We need to listen more to the ideas of our next generation, while continuing to give a voice to those who bring more experience to the table. An important element of this endeavor is our renowned conferences. How can we provide the optimal platforms for scientific excellence, networking, innovative exchange, and community building?
Another key point is to strengthen the core of our brand: the unique mixture of academia & industry, young & old, regional & global presence, and the diverse fields of chemistry. How can we embrace, support, and enable this diversity to achieve great outcomes and remain to be a relevant community for our members at every step of their lives: from the beginning of their education, to PhD, to career start, to professional evolution, to senior management, to retired experts. Last but not least, we need to demonstrate our value to our industrial partners to support industry chemists and stay connected to the evolving business environment.
A lot of work needs to be done and some of the issues raised may require the society to take bolder steps. The members of the GDCh Board, our GDCh Office, Katharina, Peter and I will make sure that we honor our heritage and start from what unites all of us: passion for chemistry and excellence in science.

I want to end this editorial with a big "Thank you" to the great work of our volunteers, who make our society what it is with their inspiration, ideas & effort every day in the various sections, local groups, young chemist networks, and everyone supporting our society big or small. Please keep inspiring us! Your work is more important than ever. We are great together and strive to be even better. This is where we want to go. Let’s do it.

By: Karin J. Schmitz

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