The first female President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Professor Lesley Yellowlees, will collect an honorary award from University of Huddersfield, which will be presented at the University’s November Award Ceremonies.
Professor Yellowlees completed both her BSc in Chemical Physics and her PhD at the University of Edinburgh.
After completing research positions in Brisbane, Australia and Glasgow, she returned to an academic position in Edinburgh in 1986 and gained a personal chair in Inorganic Electrochemistry in 2005.
Yellowlees served as Head of the School of Chemistry at Edinburgh from 2005-10 and was Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh from 2011-17. She was the first woman to hold both these positions.
In 2012, she became the first female President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a post she held for two years.
Her academic interests include inorganic electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry, solar energy, the public engagement of science and the promotion of women in science.
She was awarded an MBE in 2005 for services to science and a CBE in 2014 for services to chemistry. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2012 and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016.
