Polly Arnold

Polly Arnold is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Chemical Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2020. Previously, she held the Crum Brown Chair of Chemistry (2013-2019) and Chair of Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry (2009-2013) at the University of Edinburgh, and was a Lecturer/Reader at the University of Nottingham (1999-2007).

• Education: DPhil in Chemistry from Sussex University (1994-1997), MA in Chemistry from Oxford University (1990-1994)
• Postdoctoral: Fulbright Scholar at MIT (1997-1998)

Her research focuses on the synthetic chemistry of f-block metals, transuranic organometallic chemistry, and homogeneous catalysis with rare earth complexes. She has pioneered understanding of f-element bonding and its applications to nuclear waste management and catalysis.

Arnold has received numerous honors including Fellowship of the Royal Society (2018), OBE for services to chemistry and women in STEM (2017), and the Royal Society of Chemistry's Sir Geoff Wilkinson Prize (2018).

• Scientific Leadership: Board member, Edinburgh Science Festival; Chair, Inclusion and Diversity Committee, Royal Society of Chemistry
• Editorial Roles: Inorganic Syntheses (Wiley); Royal Society Phil. Trans. A.

She has advised 25 PhD graduates and mentored 3 UK/1 German lecturers, with a career spanning institutions in the UK, USA, and collaborations across Europe.