We have just got the results of the feedback from the 7th RSC-CICAG / RSC-BMCS Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry held at Churchill College in September. Many thanks to all those who submitted the feedback form it is really appreciated and helps us organise an even better meeting next time.
The feedback I got during the meeting was very positive and I was delighted to see this was also reflected in the electronic feedback. When we set about organising this meeting the committee wanted to ensure that we included as many areas of chemistry as possible, ranging from material science to drug discovery to biomolecular structure prediction to chemical synthesis prediction. We also wanted to give an opportunity to less experienced scientists to speak. Looking at the satisfaction responses it looks like this was appreciated.
I have to say all the speakers were excellent, and it was great to see how they also participated in the Q&A sessions and went around speaking to the poster presenters. Our timing was pretty good, having John Jumper give a keynote and then next month he shares a Nobel prize! The posters were excellent and we will think of ways to allow more poster presentations in the future. The half-day pre conference workshop was highly appreciated and we had a number of requests to look at ways to expand it.
A shout out to HG3 who provided the conference administration, they were brilliant and allowed the organising committee to focus on scientific content. Also AV team at Churchill who dealt with switching laptops and managing the online feed with calmness and good humor.
And lastly the catering, this is usually an issue at conferences, particularly when we have 20-30% of the attendees having some kind of dietary restriction. Churchill College and St Johns College both did a fabulous job.
Organising major international multi-day meetings is a significant effort and I’d like to thank my fellow organising committee for their efforts.
The 8th Artificial Intelligence in Chemistry Conference will be at Churchill College 22-24th September, so put a note in your diary and get in touch if you would like to present.