The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

 set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 and related sciences for the public benefit". Its purpose is "Promoting the commercial application of science for the benefit of society". Its first president was Henry Enfield Roscoe

Henry Enfield Roscoe

Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, FRS was an English chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium and for photochemical studies.- Life and work :...

 and its first secretary was George E. Davis

George E. Davis

George Edward Davis is regarded as the founding father of the discipline of Chemical Engineering.Davis was born at Eton on 27 July 1850, the eldest son of George Davis, a bookseller. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a local bookbinder but he abandoned this trade after two years to...

. Other noted chemists associated with the society are William Perkin, Rudolph Messel, Ludwig Mond

Ludwig Mond

Dr Ludwig Mond , was a German-born chemist and industrialist who took British nationality.-Education and career:...

, Leo Baekeland

Leo Baekeland

Leo Hendrik Baekeland was a Belgian chemist who invented Velox photographic paper and Bakelite , an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and popular plastic, which marks the beginning of the modern plastics industry.-Career:Leo Baekeland was born in Sint-Martens-Latem near Ghent, Belgium,...

, Sir Eric Rideal

Eric Rideal

Sir Eric Keightley Rideal FRS was an English physical chemist. He worked on a wide range of subjects, including electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, catalysis, electrophoresis, colloids and surface chemistry. He is best known for the Eley-Rideal mechanism, which he proposed in 1938 with Daniel D....

, Charles F. Chandler

Charles F. Chandler

Charles Frederick Chandler was an American chemist, best known for his regulatory work in public health, sanitation, and consumer safety in New York City, as well as his work in chemical education—first at Union College and then, for the majority of his career, at Columbia University where he...

, Richard Seligman, Hamilton Young Castner

Hamilton Castner

Hamilton Young Castner was an American industrial chemist.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York and educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, then at the Columbia University School of Mines. He left without a degree and in 1879 joined his brother, E. B. Castner, as a consulting chemist...

, George Thomas Beilby

George Thomas Beilby

Sir George Thomas Beilby was a British chemist.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of a doctor and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University...

, Henry Edward Armstrong

Henry Edward Armstrong

Henry Edward Armstrong FRS was an English chemist. Although Armstrong was active in many areas of scientific research, such as the chemistry of naphthalene derivatives, he is remembered today largely for his ideas and work on the teaching of science...

, William Ramsay

William Ramsay

Sir William Ramsay was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" .-Early years:Ramsay was born in Glasgow on 2...

, Viscount Leverhulme

Viscount Leverhulme

Viscount Leverhulme, of the Western Isles in the Counties of Inverness and Ross and Cromarty, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created in 1922 for the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Baron Leverhulme...

, Charles Tennant

Charles Tennant

Charles Tennant was a Scottish chemist and industrialist. He discovered bleaching powder and founded an industrial dynasty.- Biography:...

, and Leslie Lampitt.

Offices

The headquarters is in Belgrave Square

Belgrave Square

Belgrave Square is one of the grandest and largest 19th century squares in London, England. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, but there are also offices in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Aims

The Society aims to promote links between scientists and industrialists, and does so through technical and business interest groups and international and regional groups, and by running some 50 conferences, seminars and lectures a year.

SCI also aims to inform government decision-making relating to science and industry. A paper urging further action on science education to protect future of UK economic health produced by SCI members in response to the closure of the Chemistry department at the University of Sussex

University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

 gained newspaper coverage in the UK.

Events

SCI organises over 50 conferences and events per year which are focused around stimulating and informative scientific and special interest subjects. These are primarily organised through SCI member-led technical and regional interest groups.

SCI runs free Public Evening Lectures.

Technical Interest Groups

SCI's Technical Interest Groups comprise:

{| style="text-align: left;"

|-
| width="220px;" | BioResources || width="220px;" | Environment || width="220px;" | Lipids
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| Biotechnology || Fine Chemicals || Macro Group UK
|-
| The British Carbon Group || Fire Chemistry || Materials Chemistry
|-
| Colloid and Surface Chemistry || Food || Process Engineering
|-
| Construction Materials || Science and Enterprise
|-
| Health & Safety || Separation Science and Technology
|-
| Electrochemical Technology || Horticulture

SCI Horticulture Group

The SCI Horticulture Group is one of the Technical Interest Groups within the Society of Chemical Industry. In line with the Society’s maxim 'Where Science meets Business' the Group’s aim is to assist the transfer of horticultural science in its broadest sense into business practice...

 || Young Chemists' Panel
|}

International Groups

International Groups comprise:

{| style="text-align: left;"

|-
| width="220px;" | America || width="220px;" | Australia || width="220px;" | Canada
|-
|}

Regional Interest Groups

Regional Interest Groups in the UK comprise:

{| style="text-align: left;"

|-
| width="220px;" | Bristol and South West || width="220px;" | All Ireland || width="220px;" | Scotland
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| Cambridge and Great Eastern || Liverpool and North West || Thames and Kennet
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| Chinese UK || London || Yorkshire and the Humber
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| East Midlands || ||
|}

Journals

The society publishes a number of peer-reviewed

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

 scientific journal

Scientific journal

In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...

 in conjunction with Wiley-Blackwell:

• Pest Management Science
• Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
• Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
• Polymer International
• Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining
  Biorefining
  Biorefining is the process of "refining" multiple products from biomass as a feedstock or raw material much like a petroleum refinery that is currently in use...
  
  
• Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology

Awards

The Society has a number of awards, including the Levinstein Memorial Award to persons who have made significant contributions in the field of chemical technology.