I am just after returning from the 43 (and largest ever) International Conference of  coordintion Chemistry in Sendai, Japan. This year’s ICCC had an awful lot to offer, with 2,500 of us in the Sendai International Centre, and spread over up to twenty parallel session at times, there is clearly a lot happening in inorganic and coordination at the moment. Some highlights included fascinating molecular machines (with an inspiring closing address from 2016 Nobel laureate Jean-Pierre Sauvage), catalytic approaches to the challenges presented by the need to find new fuel sources for a changing world, new pincer and NHC ligands, luminescent diagnostic probes and therapeutic agents and much much more.

I was privileged to get the chance to present my work in Session 38 “Organometallic complexes for synthesis and polymerisation”, to a room full of my peers and leaders in the field, including people I had interacted with during the week and who came along to see what it is I am up to in my current work! My presentation on the catalytic activity of carbohydrate-functionalised N-heterocyclic carbene complexes went very well and there were even a few useful questions that prompted a bit of discussion afterwards.

After Thursday morning, I could relax a bit more and just enjoy attending the sessions without worrying about perfecting my talk! Luckily that afternoon had also been set aside on the programme for sight-seeing, so I wandered around the site of Sendai Castle and the adjacent shrine with a few other chemists. I also got to sample the regional delicacy of beef tongue and make my own chopsticks from scratch. A nice mix of learning, culture and networking.

I really enjoyed catching up with old colleagues from Europe and the UK and meeting new people from both hemispheres to share ideas with (as well as a fateful trip to karaoke after the conference banquet wrapped up earlier than necessary) as well as the engaging discussions had at the poster sessions. I’m also getting better at asking questions after lectures, as my confidence in the field grows with experience!

Looking forward to the next one in Rimini!

Thanks, of course, to my Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowship (GLYCONHC) and the European Commission for funding the work which I presented