ISC 2024, Liverpool - International Symposium on Chromatography

ISC 2024 Event

Back in October the Anthias team had the exciting opportunity of exhibiting at the 34th International Symposium on Chromatography ISC 2024 in the beautiful and historic city of Liverpool, UK. With an estimated 700 attendees, we were absolutely thrilled with the amount of interest in our training courses and consultancy services expressed throughout the conference. Anthias Consulting stood out as one of the most vibrant and eye-catching exhibitors at ISC 2024. With our bold orange branding, the booth drew significant attention, and our 2024 training calendars and merchandise were in high demand. Attendees especially loved our signature orange tote bags, with the iconic Anthias fish logo in striking orange and green hues, making them a must-have item at the event.

The team was also thrilled with the enthusiasm expressed at this year’s ISC 2024 competition. To enter for a chance to win a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, attendees were challenged to correctly identify all the GC instruments displayed at our stand—no small feat, given the variety on offer!
At the close of the exhibition on Thursday, we drew one lucky name from all the correct entries for an even bigger prize: a free place on one of our courses!
We are excited to announce that Gala, an analytical scientist from Unilever, is our ISC 2024 winner! And she has chosen to take our on-demand “Absolute Basics of Deconvolution” course. The team wish her all the very best and hope she finds it an insightful experience.

This year Anthias Consulting were part of the ISC 2024 Exhibitor Passport Challenge where exhibitors were required to collect stamps from 19 exhibitors for the chance to win a £100 RSC book voucher. The passports brought along a great crowd to the Anthias stand (No.43) which enabled us to advertise the great discounts we have on offer for PhD students, RSC, HEaTED, and CAMS members.

Dr. Diane Turner had the pleasure of leading the GC tutorial at ISC 2024 and was truly impressed by the enthusiasm and engagement of the attendees. She was thrilled to share her extensive knowledge in gas chromatography and hosted a Q&A session afterward to ensure all questions were addressed. In addition to the tutorial, Dr. Diane Turner chaired two insightful and well-attended sessions on Wednesday: The Morning Water session and Sustainability 2, a session that focused on the recent and future improvements to sustainability in the world of chromatography. Both sessions saw high participation, with Dr. Diane Turner commending the quality of the presentations and the active involvement of the audience, as many great questions were asked adding to the quality of both presentations.

There was an unbelievable sense of community within the exhibits vendors this year, and Anthias thoroughly enjoyed delving into the wide range of services available in today’s world of chromatography. Our personal favourite was the Agilent stand with their state of the art instruments and software. The Shimadzu stand also had the best prizes to offer with their competitions in which our very own Diane Turner and Erin Boddie won 2 very cute, and fluffy, E.coli toys!

The cavern club, set in Liverpool’s most famous pub was a night to remember! This iconic pub is where the Beatles performed in their early days and it remains a thriving music venue to this day with people travelling from far to visit this piece of musical history. Diane had the pleasure of attending this historic venue and had a whale of time reconnecting with old friends and colleagues as well as meeting a myriad of new people from the UK and Internationally.

ISC 2024 also marked the official community launch of The International Women in Chromatography, chaired by our very own Dr. Diane Turner FRSC, Director and Senior Consultant at Anthias Consulting Ltd. The International Women in Chromatography community is an innovative global network which “empowers & celebrates women & non-binary chromatographers. Its vision is to create a supportive & inclusive environment where members can thrive professionally & personally, advancing chromatography research & innovation worldwide.” The rationale behind the group is that “chromatography, as a fundamental technique in analytical chemistry, plays a pivotal role in diverse fields from environmental sciences to biotechnology. Despite significant contributions by women & non-binary individuals in chromatography, gender disparities persist in recognition, leadership opportunities & networking.” Since the launch event over 200 individuals have joined the online LinkedIn group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13080121/ where planning is currently ongoing to assign roles and leadership positions across regions to develop and build the network.

Many chromatographers have reached out to the organisers since the event, remarking on how impactful such a network will be and how they wished it had been established sooner!

Thank you to the organisers Dr Diane Turner, Professor Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay and Professor Jacqueline Hamilton.

Wednesday’s Gala Dinner was an evening to remember, held at the breathtakingly beautiful and very well dressed Anglican Cathedral located at the heart of Liverpool city. An interesting aspect of this majestic cathedral is that it’s in fact the largest in the UK and 8th largest in the world!
The evening commenced with an exquisite three course meal coupled with a range of delicious wines and non-alcoholic options to choose from, keeping the guests wine and dinned throughout the memorable evening. Exhibitors and delegates alike enjoyed a night of celebration, conversation and lots of dancing with new friendships and connections forged.

The final day of ISC 2024 was bittersweet as we bade farewell, but we are excited to continue the conversations and collaborations sparked during the event and look forward to staying connected with the many attendees who expressed interest in our vast variety of training and consultancy available not just in the UK but internationally too!
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited our booth as well as the ISC 2024 event organisers who orchestrated a flawless event and were incredibly helpful and efficient throughout the course of our visit.

We’re eagerly anticipating ISC 2026 in Prague and look forward to connecting with everyone again!

Best wishes,
The Anthias Team