Women ahead as presidents

Margaret Franklin was elected President of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland for a period of two years. Margaret Franklin obtained her Master of Science at University College Dublin. In 1975 she took up a lecturing position at Athlone Regional Technical College (now Athlone Institute of Technology, AIT). She retired from her position as senior lecturer in inorganic chemistry in 2009 and concentrated in the work for the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. She was elected vice-president in 2013. During her time at AIT, she had a major input into the development of the chemistry programmes and helped to establish the Eurachem Analytical Measurement Competition, which is a contest in laboratory skills open to undergraduate chemistry students in Ireland.

Christina Valanidou was elected President of Pancyprian Union of Chemists. Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, she studied chemistry at the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens. She received her Master of Science at the Albany State University, New York, and her PhD on Pedagogy at Patra's University in Greece. For several years she worked as a teacher and principal of school in Cyprus. As cultural attaché and

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