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Professor Rachel Mills

Professor Rachel Mills
Professor Rachel Mills

Professor Rachel Mills is Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences and is a member of the University Executive Board. Over her career she has developed and delivered undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Ocean and Earth Science. More recently she has led the development and delivery of a free online course ‘Exploring our Ocean’ that has had global reach with learners of all ages and impact on societal understanding of sustainable oceans. Rachel regularly provides advice and direction for a range of international and UK organisations and high profile projects.

She is a deep-sea oceanographer who works on the chemistry of the deep seafloor and its impact on life in the sea. She has led research expeditions using submersibles and remotely operated vehicles to remote and deep, unexplored parts of the ocean. Her research focuses on metal cycling at the seafloor, the formation and alteration of deep sea mineral deposits and the dispersion of metals in the ocean.

March 2016-present: Dean of Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton

2014-2016: Head of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton

2010-2014: Associate Dean, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton

2009-2010: Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics, University of Southampton

2005-2009: Deputy Head of School (Education Development), School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton.

1993-2005: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton.

1992-1993: Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Dept of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

1989-1992: PhD: Marine Geochemistry, Dept of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge. A Geochemical and Isotopic Study of Metalliferous Sediments from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 26oN.

1985-1988: BSc Oceanography with Chemistry, Dept of Oceanography, University of Southampton, 1st Class Honours.

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