Annual report 2010

1. Introduction

This is the fourth annual report of the Polymer Society since the technical division title change under the federisation approach within IOM3. The report format is based on the template required for the ITPB (Industry and Technology Policy Board).

Members currently expressing an interest in polymers in their member’s profile have remained pretty static but there is an increasing interest in Polymer Processing and Engineering. With thanks to the North East Plastics Association the Applied Polymer Science Group had their initial meeting and plans a follow up meeting this year.

The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), formed via Polymer Society Board membership as support for the work packages programme of the Materials KTN Polymer Sector Advisory Board started work on the Year 1 packages.

2. Board membership

There were four resignations in the year due to retirement or changes in job responsibilities.

Mr. Barry Statham, who oversaw our education focus, decided to retire after giving many years of service.

Similarly, Mr. Tony Hesp, our South African based member, also retired after giving a long period of support. We welcomed Mr. Spike Taylor as his replacement.

Dr Richard Simpson resigned after changing jobs and not being able to give the same level of support in his new position.

Mr. Ray Bush, our link with SPE, also resigned after resigning his position within SPE. We are in the process of inviting another SPE member to sit on the Board.

Suitable candidates for the remaining two vacancies are being sought to maintain our target of having a maximum of 18 board members.

The Chairman is coming to the end of his four year term of office and decisions will have to be made regarding another term and succession planning.

Dr Thornton continues to give excellent support in addition to his Materials KTN and other roles within IOM3.

3. Board meetings

The Board continues to meet three times in the year. However attendance figures were down compared to 2009.

• 11 February at Cogent SSC Warrington with 71% attendance
• 22 June at the 1CHT with 69% attendancee
• 4 November at 1CHT with 56% attendance

4. Opportunities for growth of Society Community or constraints

The Society continues to have objectives based on a Rolling 12 Months Programme. Key Performance Indicators are based on members declaring an interest in Polymers, PVC, Rubber and/or Polymer Processing and Engineering (PPE).

Between October 2009 and November 2010 there was a slight decline in the numbers with the exception of PPE. Polymers showed around 1150 (down from ~1200), PVC was 230 (down from 250), Rubber was 260 (down from 270) and PPE showed 640 (up from 580).

Our reasonably successful internal objectives focus on maintaining input into ITPB and ensuring relevant feedback, participation in cross Institute Groups, particularly the SDG and continuing to review board membership to better reflect current supply chain position, needs and individual board member’s active participation.

Another objective in establishing a dialogue with all regional polymer groups could only be considered a partial success and more needs to be done in this area.

We have recently agreed a new objective in that our microsite, including the technical committees, should ensure that a Top 3 ranking position is maintained in the Technical Divisions Home Page Views as reported at ITPB.

Externally we have objectives targeted on maintaining our profile via Materials World, Newsletters and general articles, the generation of new content via news articles and members’ only content for the microsite, a strategic involvement with the Materials KTN Polymer Sector, the formation of an Applied Polymer Science Group, continuing liaison with SPE, an education initiative around polymer education in schools and a possible relaunch of the Polymer Processing and Engineering Committee to meet the needs of our members in this area.

Updates on the status of most of these objectives are covered in various sections of this report.

a) 2010 Events

• The Rubber in Engineering Group (RIEG) continues to deliver on successful afternoon technical discussion meetings (ATDM) with one ATDM being held successfully outside London In addition two one day conferences were also held. The October Modelling conference was somewhat fraught in getting a reasonable turnout but numbers were reasonable on the day. Full details are at www.iom3.org/content/rubber 
• The PVC Committee has been focusing on PVC 2011, which is a major Institute conference, and an excellent programme has been put together. There has been one complication in that a rival conference is being organised by AMI two months in advance of the Brighton Conference. This AMI conference is looking to attract its annual 200 + delegates over two-days and will again be held in Germany. In order to compete more effectively there has been a need to increase the marketing effort via Press Releases and blanket emails.
• With ITPB support the Applied Polymer Science Group has been established following an inaugural conference organised by the North East Polymer Association in September. 

b) Events planned for 2011 can be accessed via the Polymer Society website

6. Foresight / Innovation and Growth

Under the Growth heading and with the assistance of Education and Membership, the Polymer Society contributed two articles over the year in the World of Plastics insert in The Guardian newspaper (Professional Development and Networking) and the Middle East Plastics ezine (Defining Engineering Competence).

IOM3 also hosted a delegation of Chinese plastics industrialists in June; the delegation to the UKbeing organised by Rapra Ltd and the Shanghai Advanced Materials Society. This meeting included a presentation from the Polymer Society.

7. Professional membership developments

Through the good services of Dr Thornton, a newsletter was emailed to over 1000 members in June 2010 with some positive responses.

Our links to local IOM3 Polymer Local Societies are reasonable but could be improved. We have assisted Manchester Polymer Group in the development of their successful Annual Rubber Seminar and can recommend polymer based evening lectures. Links to Local Materials Societies could also be improved.

8. National and international linkages with other Societies / Institutes

In addition to maintaining links with the IOM3 Rubber Division in South Africa, there is continuing liaison with the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and co-sponsorship arrangements have been agreed on PVC conferences.The Institute President has also been re-establishing links with PRIM – Plastics and Rubber Institute of Malaysia.

9. Government interfaces

A strategic involvement with the TSB via the Materials KTN Polymer Sector has been established with the formation of a Scientific Advisory Committee, based on Polymer Society Board members, which advises the Materials KTN Polymer Sector Advisory Board in terms of work packages and SPARK Awards.

There are no direct links with other Government organisations.

10. Publications

Materials World - We have been successful in maintaining our profile via MW articles. The April edition of MW had a Polymers focus and several board members were able to facilitate the supply of articles for this edition. We are also contacted by the editorial team to comment on relevant articles.

PRC: ME – The journal is now receiving a large number of composites related papers and has just published a triple special edition. The impact factor for the journal is always on an upwards trend and was at 0.443 in 2008. The Australians quality assessment scheme has put the journal in category C which is good news.

The journal also receives a high number of rubber related papers and the editorial team has been augmented to carry out assessments in this area.

There are several excellent special editions in train, including another one from China (several leading Chinese universities), a micro & nanotechnology issue, and good composites specials.

A need for more papers from the USA and European countries has been identified and the Editorial Board is being amended to include some key people in these areas.

Maney are also considering an ‘English polishing service’ (to be paid for by authors).

Microsite – Updating and populating the microsite has lost some impetus due to insufficient resources. Without the efforts of the Chairman and Board Secretary there would have been very few updates.

The honourable exception is the Rubber In Engineering Group’s microsite which has been set up to contain details of, and presentations from, their conferences and afternoon technical discussion meetings. Home page views have more than doubled over the year and almost match those of the Polymer Society.

11. Awards/prizes

Swinburne Award
To recognise the achievement of a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and knowledge of any field related to the science, engineering or technology of plastics.

Awarded to Professor Ton Peijs ProfGradIMMM, Queen Mary University of London, for his work on processing-structure-property relationships of polymers and their composites. His research has covered biobased materials, nano- and thermoplastic composites, and natural fibre-reinforced plastics. Much of his work has been commercialised, such as recyclable self-reinforced polypropylene and commingled PLA/flax textile yarns for biodegradable composites.

Professor Peijs will give the Swinburne Lecture at ICMAC 2011, International Conference on Manufacturing of Advanced Composites in March 2011 in Belfast.

Hancock Medal
To an individual for outstanding service to the rubber industry where such services have benefited either the nation, government authorities or industry. Open only to members of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Not awarded.

Prince Philip Award
For polymers in the service of mankind. Awarded not more than once every two years, not less than once every five years. Last awarded 2007. No nominations received.

Alan Glanvill Award
For a paper published by the Institute of particular merit in the field of polymers.

Awarded to H Le, S Ilisch, H Radusch and H Steinberger, for their paper 'Macro- and microdispersion of carbon black in liquid silicone rubbers', Plastics, Rubber and Composites, October 2008, Vol 37, No 8, pp367-375.

James S Walker Award
For an unpublished project report by a student on the subject of polymers.

Awarded to J Tilley, University of Oxford, for the project synopsis report ‘Creation of surfaces suitable for immobilising bioactive proteins: characteristics affecting immobilisation'. The research was conducted in an overseas environment using techniques new to Jennifer. Her conclusions were well drawn and useful for further work. The reports showed particularly high initiative and a good professional approach at such an early stage in her career.

12. Other matters

Educational Initiative with RIBA
IOM3 sponsorship of the RIBA Student Architecture Presidents Medal Awards in conjunction with the BPF (British Plastics Federation), Corus and Pilkington to highlight the benefits of using polymers, steel and glass for Building and Architectural Design continues.

The secure website intended to be used by shortlisted students / tutors and colleges (and IOM3 members) got very few hits and was made available to all visitors later in the year. www.iom3.org/riba

The industry visits for the outright winners to Tata Steel and Pilkington were reasonably well attended but there were no takers for the polymer visit.

Following discussions with RIBA the 2011 programme dates will be made known in December and published with back up options to maximize participation for the site visits.

Student Design Innovation in Plastics (DIP) – Worshipful Company of Horners and IOM3
The focus of the award continues to be to encourage plastics design innovation and best practice in future product designers.

The theme of the 2010 competition was Refreshing Design and the six finalists were selected from 73 entries submitted by 24 universities in the UK and Ireland.

The Polymer Society continues to participate in the organising committee and has contributed to the development and maintenance of a new website whereby all entries will be submitted electronically from the 2011 award onwards. www.designinnovationplastics.org

Polymer Study Tours (PST)
The intended objective of the development of an Education Initiative around polymer education in schools has been modified into the support of the Worshipful Company of Horners annual PST for teachers. IOM3 (Education) has also now taken over some of the administration associated with promotion and registration. Further details at www.polymer-teaching-resources.com/index.html

Report prepared by S G Patrick 5 January 2011