Certification of Election as Chair of ISC-ICSC
On September 15, 2025, at the IUPAC International Conference on Solution Chemistry (ICSC) in Tunisia, Prof. Yongquan Zhou of the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was elected Chair of the International Steering Committee for the ICSC.
The ICSC is one of the most established and influential international conference series in the field of solution chemistry. Held biennially in different countries and regions under the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the conference has been successfully held 39 times to date. The first conference took place in Poland, with subsequent editions held worldwide, including in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Japan, Russia, Australia, and Hungary. In 2019, the 36th ICSC was successfully hosted by the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes.
ICSC conference serves as a crucial platform for global researchers from academia and industry to present the latest breakthroughs in fundamental and applied solution chemistry research, exchange ideas, and establish international collaborations. It has significantly advanced various branches of solution chemistry—from electrolytes and non-electrolytes to biological solutions—fostered interdisciplinary integration, and exerted a profound and lasting impact on related fields such as physical chemistry, materials science, biochemistry, and environmental science. It is widely regarded as the premier authoritative event in the international solution chemistry community.
Salt lake brine is a complex multi-component aqueous saline system. A deep understanding of the structure, dynamics, and phase equilibrium of concentrated salt solutions is essential for its evaporation, crystallization, separation, and extraction. As China's pioneering and leading research institution in salt lake science and technology, the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes has made remarkable achievements over the decades in the fields of solution chemistry and phase chemistry. The institute has systematically determined the phase equilibria of numerous key water-salt systems, revealed phase transformation pathways and patterns during brine evaporation and crystallization, investigated multi-component interactions in typical salt lake systems of the Tibetan Plateau, and elucidated ion hydration and selective separation mechanisms. It has developed distinctive expertise in areas such as the chemistry of borate-containing brine, thermodynamics of concentrated salt solutions, and the structure and interfaces of concentrated salt solutions, laying a solid scientific foundation for the comprehensive development and utilization of salt lake resources in China.
Professor Zhou Yongquan declared the 39th International Conference on Solution Chemistry officially open.