University of Manchester supramolecular chemist David Leigh has been elected to serve as president of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) from 2028 to 2030.
Leigh said he was honoured to have been elected: ‘My reasons for standing were rooted in a conviction that, in increasingly uncertain and post-truth times, respect for expertise, evidence and free inquiry cannot be taken for granted, and that professional and learned societies have an increasingly important role to play in making that case to both politicians and society at large.’
Leigh will begin his role as president-elect in July this year, when Robert Mokaya, current RSC president-elect, moves into the position of serving president and current president Annette Doherty steps down.
Leigh is particularly concerned by recently proposed cuts to staff and capacity at UK universities. ‘Reductions of this size risk undermining long-term scientific capability, resilience and the talent pipeline at exactly the moment UK industry needs them most,’ he said. ‘We need evidence-based decision-making and serious long-term strategies for the people and institutions that sustain our discipline.’
Leigh received his doctorate from the University of Sheffield and moved from there to Warwick and then Edinburgh, before landing at the University of Manchester where he has worked for over a decade. His group explores out-of-equilibrium chemical systems, particularly in supramolecular chemistry. Leigh’s group has made several significant steps in this field, such as the first autonomous chemically fuelled synthetic motor and a molecularly woven fabric composed of polymer chains.
