The BMSS Education Initiative
To support this initiative a new BMSS officer role, specific to
education was also established, along with the formation of an education
sub-committee within the BMSS committee. A number of key areas
within mass spectrometry education have been identified for attention.
The main themes of the education initiative are:
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Summer Studentships - Deadline 17th March 2012
British Mass Spectrometry Society, Chromatographic Society and RSC Separation Science Group Summer Studentships 2012
This year the British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS) will fund six projects to a maximum value of £1500 for each studentship. In addition the RSC Separation Science Group (SSG) will fund up to a further two projects and the Chromatographic Society (Chrom Soc) will also fund a minimum of one project, provided that they contain a strong separation focus. We specify that the funding should typically be used to provide direct financial support to the student and is not to be used for conference attendance or travel (BMSS or Chrom Soc travel grants are available for this purpose) or continuation of PhD studies/projects. Grants must be used solely for the purposes set out in the application.
Each application will be independently assessed by the BMSS Advisory Board (containing Chrom Soc and SSG representatives), who will rank and select the projects that will receive funding. As in previous rounds (2007-2011), some degree of matched funding will be looked upon in favourably.
In order to qualify for consideration of funding, the application
- must be submitted by a student’s supervisor
- the supervisor must be a BMSS, Chrom Soc or SSG member of at least 3 months standing.
- the supervisor must be a bone-fide employee of the institution/company in which the project will be conducted.
The student/supervisor team are required to produce a project report (a template will be provided), describing the results of the project once completed. The report will be published in Mass Matters (which will also appear on the BMSS website). Financial support from the BMSS, Chrom Soc or SSG must be acknowledged in any conference presentations or publications resulting from the student’s work.
The application form is attached. Please return the completed application form to the BMSS Administrator via email bmssadmin@btinternet.com by 17 March 2012. Applicants will be informed of the decision of the Advisory Board by the end of April 2012. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact the BMSS Administrator.
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Funding of travel grants for conference attendance
This will continue to be a core activity of the BMSS and is a
major benefit of membership to students.
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• Research Support Grants
To help small research projects and development of ideas. 3 calls per year. Up to £2000 per grant (with matched funding required). Further details here.
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The BMSS Lecturer:
The BMSS are currently looking to appoint the BMSS Sponsored Lecturer for 2012/2013.
The role of the lecturer is to promote mass spectrometry and the activities of the BMSS, to the wider scientific community. This will help develop a greater understanding of the power of MS and hopefully generate a greater interest in the subject amongst researchers, students and the general public. This promotion of MS will be achieved by the presentation of a series of high impact, research based lectures, describing the lecturers particular field of MS research.
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MS For Schools Talk
In 2005 a large number of BMSS members provided a variety of material,
which has been used to generate a series of modules that can be
used for mass spectrometry presentations for schools. These modules
are readily available to any BMSS member who plans to provide mass
spectrometry talks to schools in their area. The modules cover a
number of applications of mass spectrometry and include forensics,
food analysis, security, space exploration, pharmaceutical analysis
and fuel analysis. It is hoped that such presentations will demonstrate
to the students the incredible variety of interesting applications
of mass spectrometry. A second benefit to the schools is that the
students will be able to meet people who have made a career in chemistry.
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Web based MS training packages.
The options for web-based training are being assessed. When this
process is completed, web based training packages will be developed.
A survey of the MS training courses and MS training packages.
Two surveys have been prepared. The first is aimed at those using
MS in industry be they specialists in MS, non- specialist / new
users, or scientists receiving MS data from others. The second is
aimed at those using MS in higher education.
The surveys will be available on the BMSS website in the near future.
The BMSS committee would be very grateful if you would take a little
time to fill in the questionnaire, so that we can ensure that you
have access to the MS training you require.
A database of the currently available mass spectrometry training
courses, training packages and books. As a resource to the BMSS
membership, we are currently compiling databases of MS books and
training resources. Once complete, theses will be made available
via the BMSS website.
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Training materials via the BMSS newsletter, Mass
Matters
We are currently finalising the main topics for inclusion in Mass
Matters. We propose to include such areas as the basics of ionisation,
ion optics, vacuum systems and mass analysers. A broad range of
applications (food, toxicology, forensics, proteomics) and also
a decision tree or flow chart to help with technique selection.
We also hope to have contributions describing careers in MS.
If you would like further information on the BMSS Education Initiative,
please contact the BMSS Education Officer.
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Best Practice for accurate mass measurement of
small molecules
The Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) have provided us
with a guide to best practice for accurate mass measurement of small
molecules, written in conjunction with the EPSRC National Mass Spectrometry
Centre in Swansea. This provides a complete methodology for
general laboratory usage.
Click here to download the PDF
file - please note it is nearly 1MB, so will take some time
for users with low bandwidth.
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Best Practice for Generating Mass Spectra
The Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) have provided us
with a guide to best practice for Generating Mass Spectra, written in conjunction with the EPSRC National Mass Spectrometry
Centre in Swansea, the University of Southampton and the University of Greenwich. This provides a complete methodology for
general laboratory usage.
Click here to download the PDF
file - please note it is nearly 1MB, so will take some time
for users with low bandwidth.
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