Professor Nora de Leeuw - 2023 Interdisciplinary Prize winner

Professor Nora de Leeuw CChem FRSC

Winner: 2023 Interdisciplinary Prize

University of Leeds

For the development and application of computational chemistry to enable atomic-level insights into biomedical materials for in vivo and nature-inspired catalytic systems.

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Science is a real team effort, and I very much feel that this Prize is recognition of all the people I have worked with over the years.

Professor de Leeuw develops computer models to simulate materials that are used in medical applications, for example, hip implants, materials to repair teeth and jaws, and to understand soft tissue injuries and ageing. It is notoriously difficult to investigate materials and processes that occur in the body and computer models can help us understand how implant materials interact with the body and how natural bone and tooth tissue ages and repairs itself.

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Professor Nora de Leeuw was born and brought up in the Netherlands. She studied languages and hotel administration before moving to the UK where she worked as a legal executive in London. However, a few years later she returned to science and completed an Open University degree in chemistry with physics, followed by PhD studies and postdoctoral research at the University of Bath on computational mineralogy.

In 2000, Nora was appointed a lectureship in Physical 91AV at the University of Reading. Then, in 2002, she received an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship for the computer modelling of biomaterials, which she took up in the School of Crystallography at Birkbeck College, London. In 2006, Nora moved to University College London (UCL) and was promoted to Professor in 2007. She set up and ran a highly successful EPSRC-funded Industrial Centre for Doctoral Training in Molecular Modelling & Materials Science, which covered three faculties and involved working closely with industrial partners. In 2015, she moved to Cardiff University to take up the role of Pro-Vice-Chancellor International, where she built international research and teaching partnerships with overseas institutions and also founded the university-wide Doctoral Academy for PhD students.

Currently, Nora is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences at the University of Leeds (also affiliated with Utrecht University in the Netherlands). Nora has also been highly active in an overseas research capacity, building programmes with institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and collaborating with colleagues across the world.

Q&A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

I have always liked puzzles and when I first was taught chemistry at school, I really enjoyed balancing equations and working out titration experiments. My interest in chemistry grew from there and I particularly liked the way chemistry was linking into so many other subjects, e.g. biology and physics.

Tell us about somebody who has inspired or mentored you in your career.

Ever since I saw an excellent television series about the life and work of Marie Sklodowska Curie, I have been fascinated by her career, her insight, research, and tenacity in the face of adversity. I think it's fantastic that her achievements are honoured and her name continues to remain a by-word for excellence through the prestigious EU research fellowships for early career scientists that bear her name.

What motivates you?

At this stage of my career, I am motivated not only by my own research, but also by mentoring earlier career researchers to successfully follow their chosen career in chemistry. I am also very active in research capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa and building sustainable links with chemists in the continent to enable them to build their own research programmes and profiles, despite the difficulties of access to relevant equipment and resources.

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

I am highly motivated by the current work by myself and other groups all over the world, on identifying and designing novel, cheap and non-toxic catalysts for the production of synthetic fuels from CO₂ as a renewable carbon source.

What has been a highlight for you (either personally or in your career)?

Having seen a number of my research projects – 'Role of Fluoride in Tooth Enamel'; 'Origin of Water on Earth'; and, 'Iron Sulfides as Primordial Catalysts of Life' – taken up by the popular press and disseminated all over the world has been a real highlight of my career.

What has been a challenge for you (either personally or in your career)?

Juggling an Open University degree with work, and then a full-time PhD with two very young children, has been a real challenge, but it all worked out in the end.

How are the chemical sciences making the world a better place?

I firmly believe that chemistry has a central role to play in providing the novel materials and processes that will allow us to generate sufficient sustainable energy for all – including growing economies in the global south – without further damage to the environment or further climate change.