The balance between scientific and social activities has given BNASS an enviable reputation for being a friendly and dynamic meeting. This includes the famous Conference Dinner, to be held this year overlooking Dartmoor, various mixer sessions and other organised activities and events. The Organising Committee look forward to welcoming you to Plymouth to what will undoubtedly be another successful and enjoyable BNASS meeting.
Introduction
The Biennial National Atomic Spectroscopy Symposium has gained an international reputation as the United Kingdom's premier meeting in the field of atomic spectroscopy. Following on from the highly successful meeting held in Loughborough in 2002, we are pleased to return to another centre for atomic spectroscopy in the UK in 2004, the University of Plymouth. The aims of BNASS are to promote and encourage developments in both fundamental and applied atomic spectroscopy by providing a friendly environment where delegates can meet, formally and informally, to exchange results, views and ideas. Plenary lectures, given by world-renowned experts, provide overviews of important areas of atomic spectroscopy. Invited and submitted lectures, as well as posters, cover the most recent developments in the field. Encouragement of younger workers is a feature of BNASS and in the past the meeting has enjoyed excellent presentations from graduate researchers and young scientists working in atomic spectrometry. Many of today's senior figures gave their first public lectures at BNASS. A wide variety of topic areas are represented including AA, AE, AF, MS, XRF, GD, new sources, sample preparation and sample introduction techniques, isotope analysis using multi-collector ICP-MS,
speciation of elements in biological and environmental sciences, spectroscopic standards and reference materials, laser-assisted plasma spectrometry and chemometric data handling.
The last session of the 12th BNASS, on Wednesday 14 July, entitled 'Essential Analytical Chemistry for the Next 50 Years' has been organised in conjunction with the Western Region of the Analytical Division of the RSC to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The programme of speakers will be followed by a poster session for younger analytical scientists and a buffet dinner at the National Marine Aquarium (NMA).
The opening ceremony for the Symposium will be at 13.00 hrs on Monday 12 July 2004.
Submission of Papers
Papers should discuss original unpublished work. Abstracts should be submitted in the following form:
Titles (Arial font, Bold, 14 pt) followed by names of contributors (Arial font, 12 pt), with the presenting author underlined.
Addresses of authors should be on a separate line in Ariel font, 12 point, italic. If there is more than one address, start each address on a new line.
The abstract text should be Ariel font, 11 point with single spacing and justified.
Place a line between each paragraph.
The page margins should be set to 1 cm top, 3 cm bottom and 3.9 cm for left and right.
These requirements guarantee a form suitable for inclusion into the 12th BNASS Handbook. Please submit abstracts electronically (preferred) to secretariatbnass@hotmail.com. If this is not possible, please submit three printed copies of the abstract, and an electronic copy on a suitable medium in an up-to-date Word document format. Abstracts must be submitted before 15 March 2004. A Word document template for the abstract format can be downloaded or is available from the Secretariat.
Authors will be informed by 23 April 2004 of the acceptance or rejection of submitted papers and whether presentation will be by lecture or poster. Manuscripts of accepted papers will be considered for publication, following the usual peer review process, in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS).
