Sustainability the subject for third edition of essay competition as RSC and IOCD join forces again

Open globally to those under 35 years of age, essays will be judged on how well they highlight the importance of scientific approaches grounded in the chemical sciences for solving sustainability challenges.

Entries will be grouped into seven regions for shortlisting and selection of winners based on the entrant's country of normal residence. The seven regional groupings are:

• East Asia & Pacific
• Europe & Central Asia
• Latin America & Caribbean
• Middle East & North Africa
• North America
• South Asia
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Each regional winner will receive a prize of $500 and their essay will be published in RSC Sustainability. Shortlisted essays will be collected in an annual compendium, Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability, published as a PDF online and available on the IOCD's website.

Entry details

The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2025 (midnight GMT) and entries must be submitted in English to essay@iocd.org along with a completed entry form.

Grab this chance to make your voice heard and contribute to a better, more sustainable future for the Earth and its elements. Start writing today!

Previous winners

Previous winning essays explore key themes such as the reuse and recycling of chemical products and earth’s resources, with examples including "We Didn’t Start the Fire: How the Chemical Sciences Can Steward the Use of Our Earth's Chemical Resources" by Eleanor R. Newton and the circular economy focus in "Chemical Sciences, Technological Innovations, and Resource Circulation" by Iris K. M. Yu.

Decarbonisation and energy transition were also covered in winning entries including, "Chemical Innovations in Nuclear Energy: Paving the Way for a Carbon-Neutral Future" by Sarah Geo and "Utilizing Advancements in Chemical Sciences for Decarbonization: A Pathway to Sustainable Emission and Energy Reduction" by Faith Mwende Johnson. Methods for analysing these processes are discussed in "Towards a Net-Zero Future: The Chemical Sciences Across Technology, Education, and Policy" by Amanda Tolentino.

All these essays are directly aligned with the scope of RSC Sustainability and contribute to and enable the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

See here for the 2023 regional winners and here for the finalists.

See here for the 2024 regional winners and here for the finalists.

About RSC Sustainability

RSC Sustainability is an interdisciplinary journal published by the RSC, with Professor Tom Welton, a Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial College London and a former RSC president, as its editor-in-chief.

The journal welcomes solutions-focused research from all subject areas that solve sustainability challenges for a better, greener future. Content will come from the academic, industry, regulatory and government sectors. An inclusive journal, RSC Sustainability champions chemical science discoveries that contribute to and enable any of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The journal is published gold open access, meaning all research is freely available to those who can benefit from it the most.

About the IOCD

The IOCD was founded by UNESCO at the organisation's Paris headquarters in 1981 and promotes the chemical sciences for development, with a particular emphasis on global sustainability.

The organisation fosters and highlights the contributions that the chemical sciences can make through education, research and practice. Through these activities, the IOCD is helping to deliver sustainable, equitable human development and tackle emerging global challenges. These include those contained in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.