History

In 1958 Sir Eric Rideal, a Past President of the SCI, founded the Colloid and Surface Chemistry Group to support the growing importance of colloids and surface chemistry in industry. Subsequently, Prof. Ron Ottewill and other eminent scientists including Sir Eric, created the Colloid and Interface Science Group within the RSC-forerunner, the Faraday Society. This was in response to the increasing number of colloid and surface science centres being formed in academic institutions. The focus of these groups is as relevant now as it was then – the subject area pervades virtually all areas of science. It is the foundation of what is popularly called “nanotechnology”, and finds applications across a wide range of commercial sectors.

Colloid and formulation science is a critical capability in industrial design and manufacture of just about any chemical and many bio-industry “finished” products. Colloids include a variety of complex materials, e.g. liquids in liquids (emulsions), solids in liquids (dispersions), liquids in gases (aerosols or foams), solid dispersions and biosystems, where the interactions between phases and at interfaces are dominant aspects of the system’s behaviour. In order to better serve our scientific and technical community; from January 2002 the two committees have worked in tandem, whilst maintaining the valuable links with both parent bodies, by holding joint committee meetings and since 2003 joint scientific meetings. This provides a coherent focus for the UK colloid community both in academia and industry, as well as to reach out to cognate disciplines. The Group primarily organises short scientific conferences, but given the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the field these are frequently held in conjunction with other SCI/RSC Special Interest Groups or allied Organisations.

SCI Colloid & Surface Chemistry Group
Founded in 1958 by Sir Eric Rideal (SCI World President 1944-46) to support the growing importance of colloids and surface chemistry in Industry.

RSC Colloid & Interface Science Group
Founded in 1971 as part of the Faraday Society with the strong support of Sir Eric Rideal (former president of the Chemical Society and the Faraday Society), became part of RSC on its formation in 1980. Founding members included Geoff Parfitt (Chair, Nottingham University and also founder of IACIS), Ron Ottewill (Hon. Sec., Cambridge University), Dennis Haydon (Hon. Treasurer, Cambridge University). This was in response to the increasing number of colloid and surface science centres being formed in academic institutions.

Joint Colloids Group
In 2002 the two groups began to work jointly forming the “Joint Colloid Group.”

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.