On behalf of the Organising Committee, it is my great pleasure to invite you to the 2017 RACI Centenary Congress. That’s right, the RACI will soon be 100 years old! We’re the oldest scientific or technical professional society in Australia. The Centenary Congress is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions that chemistry has made to Australia’s (and the world’s) social, economic and intellectual advancement over the past century as well as to look forward to the challenges and opportunities in the century ahead.

The Centenary Congress will bring together several thousand delegates from across the breadth of the chemical sciences and technologies. The Congress will encompass the RACI National Centenary Conference, based on the traditional national scientific gathering of chemists from across the breadth of our discipline, both technical and geographic. However, the Congress will be so much more as it is being held in collaboration with several partner conferences, including the 17th Asian Chemical Congress (17ACC) which is the biennial gathering of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, Carbon 2017 (The World Carbon Conference), Chemeca (Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers Conference), AIMECS17 (The Asian Federation of Medicinal Chemists’ Conference), ACCC6 (The Asian Conference on Coordination Chemistry), GSC8 (8th International Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry), Elsevier's Tetrahedron – an Asian seminar, and the Asian Hub for e-Drug Discovery (AHeDD) conference.

Centenary Congress delegates will be freely able to contribute to and enjoy the scientific and technical programs of all of these partner meetings at no extra cost. The Congress will celebrate Australian chemistry’s place in the Asia Pacific region and the world. It will incorporate the energetic and enthusiastic contributions of many student and early-career scientists and engineers from academia and industry as well as industrial leaders, world-renowned researchers and leaders in chemistry education. Congress Plenary speakers include several Nobel laureates, and several other outstanding chemists that may well be future laureates.

The Congress is being held in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Congress venue, which is centrally located in the heart of the city, with easy access to a wide range of accommodation within walking distance or via an excellent public transport network. Melbourne hosts a vibrant social life with excellent restaurants, bars and performing arts venues. Moreover, for those addicted to sport, Melbourne is Australia’s ‘sporting capital’ with options to watch top-tier professional sporting events including Australian Football and Rugby League matches only a short stroll from the Congress venue. Melbourne is an international city, easily accessible from any part of the world. It’s a fantastic base to explore South East Australia and enjoy some of the best food, wine and unique flora and fauna that Australia has to offer.

A key element of the centenary Congress will be the comprehensive exhibition programme showcasing the latest innovations in chemistry and we encourage interested organisations to make contact.