The election of the new president of the RSC is upon us, there are a number of excellent candidates but I'd like to draw attention to one.

I've known David Rees for many years and I can't think of a better person to lead the RSC at the present time. A really top class scientist with an excellent career in Drug Discovery, whilst maintaining contacts with academic research and holding important roles within the RSC.

If one thing COVID-19 has taught is we need to increase support for collaboration between Academia and Industry in healthcare, but also we should not lose sight of the oncoming challenges set by climate change. These are major challenges and we need build further collaborations.

Diversity is correctly high on many peoples radar, but David is someone who realises diversity goes beyond gender and is a great supporter of providing opportunities to all.

For a while I think chemistry has been thought of as simply a service, recent events have underlined chemistry as a key component of research and the economy, we need to take the opportunity for the RSC to take a leading role in ensuring that the recent momentum is maintained, and David would be a passionate advocate.

All RSC members should have received a unique voter code, and I hope you all take the opportunity to vote.

This year, the RSC are holding elections for the following positions:

• RSC President (one vacancy)
• Elected member of Member Communities Board (two vacancies - one representative of Interest Groups; one representative of Local Sections)
• Elected member of Professional Standards Board (one vacancy)
• Elected member of Analytical Division Council (two vacancies)
• Elected member of Chemistry Biology Interface Division Council (two vacancies)
• Elected member of Dalton Division Council (two vacancies)
• Elected member of Education Division Council (two vacancies)
• Elected member of Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Council (two vacancies)
• Elected member of Materials Chemistry Division Council (two vacancies)