Brussels, 2 October 2012 – The European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) is stepping up its involvement in educational initiatives for the natural sciences. EPCA is currently supporting three projects intended to illustrate the high status of chemistry in everyday life. The initiatives enable school students to take part in live chats with experts in chemistry and offer teachers exclusive material allowing them to adopt a more practically oriented and vivid approach to the design of their lessons. A high-quality information film supplements the educational programme. The aim of EPCA’s involvement is to inspire school students to take up the subject of chemistry and encourage them to embark on a career within the sector. After all, the industry is increasingly suffering from a shortage of qualified new recruits. “Chemistry plays an outstanding role in our daily lives. It provides us with access to such fundamentals as drinking water, food, clothes, healthcare and communication media. We urgently need more well educated specialists so that we can safeguard all of this in the future,” says Tom Crotty, President of EPCA. In lectures, panel discussions, seminars and workshops, this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Petrochemical Association will also be dedicated to the topic of new recruits for the sector. Title of the meeting: “Talent and Technology: Drivers of Innovation in the Chemical Industry”. This year more than 2,500 delegates representing EPCA’s member companies will be meeting from 6 to 10 October in Budapest. *Educational initiatives with EPCA involvement* EPCA is actively involved as a partner in a number of initiatives for the education of young people in the fields of chemistry and natural sciences. inGenious aims to promote the interest of young Europeans in the natural sciences and improve the link between education and practice. One of the initiative’s projects is XPERIMANIA V called “TALK2US”, that EPCA and the Association of Petrochemicals Producers in Europe (APPE) have developed jointly. From October 2012 to May 2013, the two associations are organizing several online chat sessions with European schools. These sessions will enable school students from all over Europe to find out more about the importance of petrochemicals in everyday life, their sustainable development and career opportunities within the chemical industry. EPCA has renewed its successful partnership with European Schoolnet (EUN) for a further three years. Back in 2011 EUN and EPCA jointly developed tuition guidelines aimed at helping teachers to integrate specific applications from the discipline into the school curriculum. The guidelines provide young people with illustrations of chemical processes and will be available in 12 countries and in 10 languages over the next couple of years. In three and a half minutes, the film “Chemistry: All About You!” uses impressive images and informative captions to show that chemistry forms the foundation of everybody’s daily life. In a topical context, all children who take part in the “Kids’ Marathon” as part of the Budapest Marathon to be held in the Hungarian capital on 7 October, will receive a copy of the film. EPCA – a sponsor of the run – made and distributed the elaborately produced film in collaboration with its partners last year. Further information on this year’s Annual Meeting of EPCA in Budapest, on local press events and opportunities to take part is available on request.