Last year, the United Nations declared that the era of global warming has ended and the era of the Earth overheating has begun. The continuous increase in demand for clean energy, coupled with the expansion of the secondary battery field, which is emerging as the core of the next-generation mobility industry, and the gradual expansion of hydrogen economy activation strategies, are rapidly leading to a restructuring of the industrial and economic paradigm worldwide. It is no exaggeration to say that electrochemistry is at the centre of these changes, having already become a major current and future academic trend, and the "Era of Electrochemistry" has already begun.

Our society has rapidly grown into a quasi-large society with the number of registrants for regular academic conferences exceeding 2,000 even in the unprecedented crisis situation of a non-face-to-face academic activity environment over the past few years, and thanks to this development, it became the sixth regular member society of the Chemical Association last year. Since 2016, it has secured the position of a co-hosting country for PRiME, the largest international conference in the field of electrochemistry, and PRiME 2024, to be held this year, will be an important opportunity to once again announce our society's global leadership and capabilities to the world.

It is a great honour to serve as the 14th president of the Korean Electrochemical Society on the foundation and achievements of the past 25 years, made possible by the dedicated efforts and contributions of the previous presidents and executive members, as well as the active interest and participation of all members, and at the same time, I feel a heavy responsibility for the continuous development and growth of our society.

Through internal and external growth and development over the past decade, our society has already made the leap to a major international academic organisation. Accordingly, efforts are being made to strengthen and stabilise the entire society, including the secretariat.

In particular, by strengthening support for basic and traditional academic fields that tend to be relatively neglected or reduced compared to rapidly growing engineering, applied, and industrialised academic fields due to timely and environmental factors, it aims to promote balanced development among various divisions within the society. Through this, our society will be positioned as the central society of the "Era of Electrochemistry," encompassing not only the clean energy field, which includes advanced materials, devices, and the environmental field, as a main area leading the massive trend towards carbon neutrality, but also analysis, bio, and photoenergy conversion.

The Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology (JECST), our society's English journal, has achieved a dramatic growth since its launch in 2010, reaching an IF of 3.7. We will strive to contribute to the internationalisation of our society through the growth of JECST and its leap to a globally renowned academic journal.

We sincerely wish for the health and academic development of our members and hope that with everyone's continuous interest and participation, the society will grow and develop further. Thank you.

January 2024
14th President of the Korean Electrochemical Society, Lee Jae-Joon