Deborah Longbottom is a Professor of Chemistry at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and Deputy Head (Education) in the School of the Physical Sciences (SPS).  

In her Departmental role, Deborah is currently co-leading the review of our UG education in Chemistry, as part of the Natural Sciences Tripos, including all aspects of course structure and content, practical skills training and inclusivity, whilst maintaining or enhancing our educational standards.  She previously created the postgraduate student training programme in the Department of Chemistry, held College Fellowships of various types at Homerton, Trinity and Churchill Colleges, and built her subsequent education-focussed career on a solid research background. Indeed, she spent many rewarding years researching organic synthesis and methodology with Professors Steven V. Ley, K. C. Nicolaou and Rachel O'Reilly, co-authoring 38 publications in a variety of journals, as well as spending valuable years in the pharmaceutical industry.  She has won awards such as the Fulbright Scholarship (postdoc), Pilkington Prize (excellent teaching) and Student-led teaching award (student support).  She is now looking ahead to the UG curriculum review work and the potential for sharing good practice (through conference presentation and/or publication), and really becoming immersed in the community of amazing people working in this area.

In her School role, she takes oversight of all educational matters relating to the SPS Departments and engages with and/or acts as Chair to multiple University Committees and working groups.  Interaction with key individuals in many central and Departmental teams, on all aspects of the undergraduate and postgraduate experience is also an essential part of the role. This includes outreach and widening participation, equality, diversity & inclusion, research culture, recruitment & admissions, student support, student numbers management, assessment, examination & student attainment, Tripos management, sustainable education development, quality and policy, educational gain, postgraduate student funding (including leading the EPSRC DLAs since 2020) and researcher development. Through related working groups and Committees, this role has also allowed for involvement in e.g. careers, education monitoring and review process development, PG complaints management, PG students with criminal convictions, the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC) code of practice development, as well as the University-wide Reviews of disability, teaching and PG education.