Rachel Mills
Professor Rachel Mills is Dean of Natural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Southampton. Rachel was previously Head of Ocean and Earth Science, based at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton. She has also been Associate Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences. She was Associate Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics from 2009-2010 and Deputy Head of School (Education Development), School of Ocean and Earth Science from 2005-2009.
Rachel’s research into the earth-ocean system has focused on deep sea hydrothermal vents and improving the understanding of how material is transported into the oceans and its impact on life processes.
Rachel is an alumna of the University of Southampton, graduating with the first cohort of 12 oceanography students in 1988. She gained a PhD in marine geochemistry from the University of Cambridge before returning to Southampton in 1993 as a lecturer in oceanography.
Over the course of her career she has led research expeditions to remote and deep, unexplored parts of the ocean, graduated more than 20 PhD students, developed undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes including a massive open online course ‘exploring our oceans’, and provided advice and direction for a range of international and UK funding bodies and high profile projects.
Rachel was President of the Society from 2016 - 2018 and now sits on council as the past President until 2019.
Latest News
Challenger Society History of Oceanography SIG Webinars
The Challenger Society Special Interest Group on the History of Oceanography will be having a series of zoom webinars in 2025. The talks will be at 5pm UK time on Wednesday evenings (3rd Wed of the month):
Job vacancy
The Ocean Census is actively seeking a Workshop Coordinator to join our dynamic team to manage the workshop and related processes with an international alliance of partners. The deadline for applications is 15th December 2024. Link to further details: https://oceancensus.org/job-opportunity-workshop-coordinator/
Socio-oceanography Workshop sets sights on key climate and ocean challenges
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is calling on scientists and researchers to participate in its fourth annual Socio-Oceanography Workshop, hosted in collaboration with the Marine Social Science Network.
This international event, set to take place at NOC’s Southampton site 26-28 February 2025, will gather experts across natural and social sciences to tackle the pressing issues linking people and the changing ocean.
This year’s workshop will focus on four key themes, including the impact of climate change-driven shifts in marine species distribution and how these changes will affect the way the UK marine environment is perceived, valued, and managed.
Other topics include integrating digital humans into environmental digital twins, addressing biases in research related to marine carbon dioxide removal, and exploring how local communities can engage in participatory environmental monitoring.