Getting UK chemists and chemical engineers to work together has traditionally been a thankless task. But a more productive future was predicted by scientists speaking at the launch of a £4.4 million initiative to promote collaboration between the two disciplines.  

The Nottingham University project, 'Driving Innovation in Chemistry and Engineering' (DICE), was funded mainly by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in response to a 2003 review of UK chemistry, which noted that 'chemistry has relatively little contact with chemical engineering in the UK'. 

DICE hopes to foster connections and cross-disciplinary understanding among young researchers and students. 'The main thing is a greater willingness of chemists and chemical engineers to routinely talk to each other, not just during isolated research projects,' said Nottingham chemist Martyn Poliakoff. The scheme has also appointed five cross-departmental researchers, launched an outreach program and will encourage nationwide collaborations. 

Across the pond 

Scientists in the US already benefit from similar projects, such as the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC), headquartered at Kansas University, and funded primarily by the National Science Foundation. Its director, Bala Subramaniam, told Chemistry World  that industry provided constant guidance for chemists and engineers at the centre, who collaborate to develop sustainable chemical reactions from catalyst through to engineering design. Researchers from the CEBC are also highly sought after by industry.  

The US is more advanced in working at the interface between chemistry and chemical engineering, suggested Poliakoff, because 'its chemical engineers do a lot more of what UK researchers might think of as physical chemistry'. But in both countries, there is still very little cross-cultural understanding at the undergraduate level.  

A rare example of that is found at Tohoku University, Japan, where fourth-year students beginning laboratory research take the same lectures regardless of their chemistry or chemical engineering preference, explained Tadafumi Adschiri, who works in materials chemistry at the university. 'This style of teaching is effective to break the barrier between the two disciplines for future researchers,' he said.  

Richard Van Noorden