Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 263 No 7064 p503
September 25, 1999 The Conference

Conference - closing session

Nottingham provides Science Chairman

Professor Martyn Davies of Nottingham university was installed as Science Chairman for the millennium conference in Birmingham at the closing session of the Cardiff conference on September 16. In handing over the chain of office, this year’s Science Chairman, Professor Ray Rowe, said that Professor Davies, who held the chair in biomedical surface chemistry at Nottingham, was respected as a pharmaceutical scientist throughout the world. He had graduated in pharmacy in Brighton in 1980 and completed his PhD at King’s College in 1984. After a year at the University of Manchester he had joined the staff at the Nottingham school in 1985. Before handing over the chain, Professor Rowe had reported that the science contributions to the Cardiff conference had been at a record level. Some 320 abstracts had been submitted, of which 303 had been accepted. The number of posters displayed had been a record 231 and there had been 72 oral presentations. The attendance at science sessions and symposia had been good and, for some, the rooms had been overful.

Professor Rowe (right) invests Professor Davies with the Conference Science Chairman's chain of office

Professor Rowe said the conference science medal had been awarded to Dr Andrew Lloyd, reader in biopharmaceutical sciences at Brighton university. He would deliver the science award lecture next year.
Professor Rowe reported that the membership of the Society's Pharmaceuticals Sciences Group stood at 1,625, of whom 981 were pharmacists and 644 were other pharmaceutical scientists. Membership had been growing at over 10 per cent a year for the past few years. He hoped that next year's science chairman would be able to report on a successful outcome to the merger talks taking place with the UK Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.
Professor Davies presented Professor Rowe with a replica of the science chairman's badge of office.
Mr Roger Odd (head of professional and scientific support, Royal Pharmaceutical Society) said that next year's conference would be held at the Birmingham International Conference centre from Sunday, September 10 to Wednesday, September 13. It would be linked to the Pharmacy Live exhibition and an associated careers fair.
The President, in drawing the conference to a close, thanked all those involved in its organisation, particularly Dr Joseph Chamberlain (editor of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology) who had organised the science side of the conference for the past 10 years and was due to retire soon.