Tom Bowtell, CEO of the British Coatings Federation, has taken over as Chair of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Surface Coatings Interest Group.

The group now has over 300 members, with a very active committee organising events and outreach to help bring together the industrial and academic communities with an interest in surface coatings. The first meeting in 2021 was held remotely earlier in January, and has led to two events planned for the Spring – Raising the Standard of Standards for the Coatings Community in March, and a ChemCareers webinar in April on Careers in Coatings.

On his new role, Tom Bowtell commented,

“I am pleased to have taken over the role of Chair at the RSC Surface Coatings Interest Group. Inspiring the future generation of chemists and highlighting the benefits of working in the coatings industry are imperative to the sustainability of our industry, which will be one of the drivers during my period in the Chair. I’m looking forward to helping develop and expand many of the excellent initiatives the group has worked on in the last couple of years under the guidance of outgoing chair Jonathan Bourne, secretary Andrew Milton Thomson and treasurer Jeff Kelsey.”

The new team includes Laura Merritt, who has taken over as secretary and Ian Hay from PRA as treasurer, with Stuart Clark from Cambridge University continuing to chair the technical committee.