Dr Sarah Rogers

ISIS-RAL
Chair of the Joint Colloids Group

Colloid and interface science covers a broad range of both fundamental and applied areas including surfactants and polymers, biological interfaces and bio-colloids, nanoparticles (for a range of applications), formulation science, self-assembled systems, and ‘smart’ materials.

In 2002 the Joint Colloids Group (JCG) was formed by the joining of the CSCG (SCI) and the CISG (RSC) with the aim to provide a more coherent focus for the UK colloid and interface science community, both in academia and industry. The Group welcomes anyone with an interest anything colloidal!

The JCG runs various scientific events, from one-day meetings to a triennial multi-day international conference (UK Colloids, since 2011). We also support bursaries for attendance at UK and worldwide meetings through the Rideal Trust. We administer several awards: the Katharine Burr Blodgett Award, the McBain Medal, the Thomas Graham Lecture and the Rideal Lecture, which recognise researchers through the different stages of their career.

As chair I aim to work and engage with our community, increase connectivity between our current members, and help shape what we want our community to be looking forwards. If you feel a topic that’s not being covered by our current programme of work, please let us know. Your support, input and suggestions are highly appreciated, whether as a speaker, delegate or sponsor, an established scientist, a PhD student or an early career researcher.

If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact me or any member of the committee. We all look forward to meeting you at our events.

Tweets by ColloidsGroup

Spring/Summer ’25 Newsletter!

Please find the Spring/Summer 2025 Joint Colloids group newsletter at this link.

Newsletter Content:

Welcome from the new chair, Sarah Rogers.

Upcoming Events.

Past Events.

Our new commitee members.

Awards and eligibility criteria updates.

39th ECIS UK Colloids 7-12th September 2025, Bristol

The annual ECIS conference is the flagship event of the European Colloids and Interface Society (ECIS). Its 39th edition will be jointly held with the 5th UK Colloid Science Conference!

Key Dates:

11th Apr 2025: Abstract submission deadline

13th Jun 2025: Early Bird Registration concludes

11th Jul 2025: Last day for Oral Presentation registration

More details on the event can be found on the website.

Nominations for the Katharine Burr Blodgett Award

Nominations are now open for the 2025 Katharine Burr Blodgett Award. This award is to honour a researcher working in the field of colloid and interface science and who was awarded a PhD degree within the past year. The winner will receive a certificate, a prize of £200, and a year’s membership of SCI. The award winner will be expected to present a research talk at an Early Career Colloid (ECCo) meeting.

Full details of eligibility and how to apply are at the following link here, the deadline is the Tuesday 9th of July.

7th Annual Early Career Colloid Meeting ECCo 2025, 12th-13th June 2025

REGISTRATION AND ABSTRACT SUBMISSION ARE NOW OPEN!

The ECCo meeting 2025 aims to bring together early career colloid scientists from industry and academia and provide a forum for discussion, networking and facilitate knowledge exchange.

This 2-day meeting in Birmingham aims to join PhD students, postdocs and scientists, newly appointed (within 10 years of first appointment) academics and industrialists, and will include plenary and contributed talks,a poster session and discussions (e.g. providing advice on how to ‘bridge the gap’ between academia and industry).

Sir Eric Rideal Travel Bursaries

The Sir Eric Rideal Travel Bursaries are a joint bursary between the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry. It provides funds for attendance at a conference in the field of colloid and surface science.

Sir Eric Rideal (1890–1974) was the founding Chair of the RSC Colloid and Interface Science Group.

The Rideal Trust annually offers financial assistance to promising academic research workers in the general field of colloid and surface science to attend conferences and/or to visit relevant research institutions.

Awards of up to £500 will be made on a competitive basis to assist with travel and/or subsistence and/or conference registration fees.

There are two closing dates for applications each year:

15 April (for travel planned between 1 June and 31 December)
15 October (for travel planned between 1 December and 30 June).

Please see the Rideal Bursary page on the SCI’s website for specifics.

Membership

You can become a member by joining one of the two groups:

SCI Colloid & Surface Chemistry Group (CSCG). http://www.soci.org/Membership-and-Networks/Technical-Groups/Colloid-and-Surface-Chemistry-Group

RSC Colloid & Interface Science Group (CISG). http://www.rsc.org/membership/networking/InterestGroups/colloidscience/

The former is open to SCI members only. The latter is open both to RSC members and associates AND to scientists and engineers who belong, either, to a chartered professional or learned body from outside the chemical sciences, or to another chemical society with whom the RSC has entered into an international partnership agreement approved by RSC Council. Non-RSC members of CISG pay RSC a small annual fee to cover administration and postage.

For information on how to become a member of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) or Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) please see the links below:

http://www.soci.org/Membership-and-Networks http://www.rsc.org/Membership/join/admission/index.asp

Non-members of RSC wishing to join CISG should contact the RSC Membership Dept. (contact details at http://www.rsc.org/Membership/join/admission/Contacts.asp), asking to join the Colloid & Interface Science Interest Group, only, and mentioning their own affiliation. The membership administration fee is £10 currently. In case of difficulty please contact a member of the Joint Committee.