NEWS

Joint iCACGP-IGAC 2018: 'Atmospheric Chemistry - from molecules to global impacts' in Kagawa, Japan

Brigitte Language

Climatology Research Group, Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, South Africa

The international Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (iCACGP) was founded in 1957 and celebrated 60 year of support for research in atmospheric chemistry which contribute to solving societal issues. The iCACGP is a sponsor of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project provides a platform that encourages the development of atmospheric chemistry research in relation to developing a sustainable world.

The Early Career Short Course (ECSC) was held on Shodoshima Island in Kagawa, Japan in the days prior to the conference (22-24 September) and brought together forty (40) promising early career atmospheric scientist from twenty-eight (28) countries. The main aim of the short course was to encourage knowledge sharing, network building, and collaboration- among those who will become future leaders in the atmospheric chemistry research community. This was done through four sessions themed around i) connecting modelling, observations and laboratory studies; ii) the future of atmospheric chemistry; and iii) science-policy engagement presented by several prominent scientist:

• Dr James Crawford, NASA, USA

• Prof Mei Zheng, Peking University, China

• Dr Christian George, Institut de recherches sur le catalyse et l'environnement de Lyon, CNRS, France

• Prof Mark Lawrence, Institute for Advance Sustainability Studies, Germany

• Dr Manish Naja, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, India

• Dr Deborah Stein Sweers, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteoroligisch Instituut, Netherlands

• Dr Todd Sanford, Polygon Sun Research & Consulting, USA

• Dr Rebecca Garland, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa

The last session included a World Café which was an open discussion on global issues connected to the topics discussed over the two day period. The course was very successful in connecting scientist from across the globe and making clear the important roles that we as early career scientists have in the future of atmospheric chemistry research in order to create a sustainable world.

The joint 14^th iCACGP Quadrennial Symposium and 15^th IGAC Science Conference took place in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan (25-29 September) following the ECSC. There were single session in atmospheric chemistry and '-people', '-fundamentals', '-ecosystems', '-climate/weather', and 'challenging the future'. These sessions were led by distinguished speakers. There were more than 500 posters presented during the conference. The ECSC was not the only opportunity for early career scientist to learn, as the conference itself hosted a talk by Prof Yaun T. Lee a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1986) and various soft skills talks by other experiences scientist.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge iCACGP-IGAC and all of its sponsors for bringing together students and early career scientist to participate and contribute towards building and fostering a community of atmospheric scientist that will continue to flourish in the years to come. BL received the iCACGP-IGAC 2018 Early Career Travel Grant to attend both the 2018 iCACGP-IGAC Early Career Short Course and joint 14^th iCACGP Quadrennial Symposium and 15^th IGAC Science Conference.

Experiences - Quotes

"Being part of the world air quality reinforcement with a common goal gave me assurance that we are not fighting a losing battle and we are not alone" - Ncobile Nkosi (Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, South Africa)

"…helped me to find my interest in research." - Tanzina Akther (Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh)

"One of the most meteoric journey of my life, it is the platform where rising suns from different land, met, interacted, learnt and try find their role as an atmospheric scientist in the society" - Renu Sakura (Environmental Sciences & Biomedical Metrology Division, CSIR National Physical Laboratory, India)