Polly Arnold’s diversity of interests
Kit Chapman asks the champion of actinide chemistry and diversity in science what comes next as she starts her new role at a US national lab
Polly Arnold studied at the University of Oxford and was a Fulbright fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US before holding the Crum Brown chair at the University of Edinburgh. In September 2019 she became director of the chemical sciences division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US. Today her vision is focused around heavy element chemistry, with her current research centred around d- and f-block organometallic compounds.
Another passion of Arnold’s is embracing and harnessing the potential of diversity in science. She sits on the board for the Dorothy Hodgkin fellowship at the Royal Society and is the chair of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s inclusion and diversity committee.