Department of Chemistry course timetable

Drs. Chorghade and Scott will make themselves available for individual discussions regarding your CVs and aim to help you produce a good CV or even tailor what you have towards the job you are interested in applying for. Please book to register your interest, individual appointments will be made when we have an idea of how many people will require them.

If you have an interest in becoming a process chemist, this session will be of interest to you. Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) represent an exciting new class of therapeutics, combining a tumour targeting antibody with a cell-killing cytotoxic drug (Payload). Payloads are typically highly complex natural products prepared using lengthy and challenging synthetic routes. This talk provides background on ADCs and the types of payloads used in these molecule, then focusses on the Process Chemistry work completed on the development and scale-up of AstraZeneca’s Tubulysin payloads.

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.

In this session, Freija and Eleanor will give an introduction to patents and the patent application process. They will discuss the role patents have in protecting chemical inventions and hindering the exploitation of certain products, and they will introduce some of the concepts that are of particular importance to those working with patents, including novelty and inventiveness. Eleanor and Freija will also discuss the career options that are available to chemists wishing to work in patent law.

The relationship between a PhD student and their supervisor can be one of the most important relationships in a scientist’s career. This session will discuss what makes a successful relationship and how to manage any difficulties that might arise.

This session will provide information on the Language Centre’s Pressland Bursary for Scientists. This fund offers you the chance to take a short intensive language course abroad for up to 4 weeks over the summer vacation. After discussing the bursary, the session will offer pointers on the various factors involved in choosing a course. With the plethora of language schools advertised online, it aims to help you towards finding the one that suits you best.

Emma Furuta is the Language Adviser from the University Language Centre. She advises on language learning strategies, and also more broadly on opportunities to learn languages within Cambridge and beyond. Administered by the Language Centre, the AJ Pressland Fund offers bursaries of up to £1,000 to support language study abroad for students within the Schools of Biological Science, Clinical Medicine, Physical Science and Technology.

This 1 hour lecture will take a tour through the pitfalls of plotting and point the path towards better figures! We will cover the common mistakes and general principles of plotting various types of data including time-series, statistical and geospatial. We will conclude with pointers towards making better graphics and review graphic producing software.

Much of scientific knowledge and information is communicated in written form, be it via journal publications, theses or in other media. However, scientific writing differs from other styles of writing quite significantly, with regard to structure, grammar and word choice. This lecture will outline the basics of what to consider when 'writing science', in order to smoothen the path to your first peer-reviewed publication, as well as your later thesis.

This compulsory 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.

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. It will be interactive, using case studies to better understand key ethical issues and challenges in all areas.

There are three sessions running, you need attend only one.

This compulsory session introduces Research Data Management (RDM) to Chemistry PhD students. It is highly interactive and utilises practical activities throughout.

Key topics covered are:

• Research Data Management (RDM) - what it is and what problems can occur with managing and sharing your data.
• Data backup and file sharing - possible consequences of not backing up your data, strategies for backing up your data and sharing your data safely.
• Data organisation - how to organise your files and folders, what is best practice.
• Data sharing - obstacles to sharing your data, benefits and importance of sharing your data, the funder policy landscape, resources available in the University to help you share your data.
• Data management planning - creating a roadmap for how not to get lost in your data!

Refreshments are included for this course

Are you a post-doc (or a PI) at Chemistry applying for grants? Do you need to write a Data Management Plan (DMP) as part of your grant application but don't know how? Are you a post-doc (or PI) who is just interested in learning about writing data management plans? If so, this session is for you.

You will increasingly be required to write a DMP as part of your grant applications, but it is also useful to write one whenever you begin a research project, to help you plan how to manage your data effectively from the start.

During this session you will learn everything you need to know about data management plans:

• What they are
• Why they are increasingly required as part of grant applications
• What to include in data management plans
• Tools to help writing data management plans
• See example data management plans

Refreshments will be provided (tea, coffee, and biscuits).

The main aim of giving a presentation to the public or a science venue is to present information in a way that the audience will remember at a later time. There are several ways in which we can improve this type of impact with an audience. This interactive lecture explores some of those mechanisms.

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 the first year exam in 2016, 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.

For FS17 PhD Thesis Submission and the viva Experience: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/event/2237472

For FS18 MPhil Thesis Submission and the viva Experience: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/event/2316740

Science is a striking, successful and powerful feature of contemporary human cultures: it has transformed lives, enabled great technological feats and often revealed the world to be a much stranger place than appearances suggest. But what is science, really, and how and why has it been so successful? This 6 week course aims to introduce graduate students to some main themes in the philosophy of science generally, and the philosophy of chemistry in particular.

This is a compulsory session which introduces new graduate 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.

You must choose one session out of the 9 sessions available.

RSSL is a contract analytical sciences company serving the food, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Having Mondelēz International as a parent company means that a portion of the work involves fascinating products such as Cadburys chocolate and Philadelphia cream cheese. In this session the presenter will explain the work of a contract analytical company through the lens of RSSL and explain how analytical chemistry adds intellectual and financial value to organisations.

A one day course that explores the considerable research that has been done into leadership and the ways to develop individual leadership skills. The challenges of leadership will be discussed and participants will gain an appreciation of effective leadership behaviour, as well as being given the opportunity to discuss and develop their own approaches to being a leader.

The Course Leader is Roger Sutherland, previously an HR Director for Mars Incorporated, and highly experienced in running courses for senior universities and companies

Science is a striking, successful and powerful feature of contemporary human cultures: it has transformed lives, enabled great technological feats and often revealed the world to be a much stranger place than appearances suggest. But what is science, really, and how and why has it been so successful? This 6 week course aims to introduce graduate students to some main themes in the philosophy of science generally, and the philosophy of chemistry in particular.