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Rachel A. Mills

Professor Rachel A. Mills

Senior Vice President (Academic)

  • Professor of Ocean Chemistry

Research interests

  • Oceanography
  • Earth systems

Contact details

Biography

Rachel is the Senior Vice President (Academic) at King’s, leading on academic strategy and delivery in the Vice Chancellor’s senior team. She brings together education and research ambitions across King’s to maximise impact and effectiveness of these efforts. She is responsible for shaping the academic vision and future plans for the University, while supporting external impact and partnerships. In particular, she has oversight of Faculty elements of the Integrated Planning Process and the Campus Futures Programme. She sponsors a range of projects, including King’s Climate & Sustainability and King’s Interdisciplinary Science that are investing to grow the impact of King’s in these key areas.

Rachel previously carried out a wide range of leadership roles in the university sector, most recently as Provost at the University of Sussex. Prior to this, she worked at the University of Southampton for nearly 30 years, including over 15 years in leadership roles such as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences and previously the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Head of School of Ocean and Earth Science and Director of Graduate School of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton. As the Southampton Sustainability Champion, she led the co-creation and implementation of the University strategy with the student and wider community.

Research Interests and Education

After completing her PhD and postdoctoral work in Earth Sciences at Cambridge, Rachel joined Southampton in 1993. She is a deep-sea oceanographer who works on the chemistry of the seafloor and its impact on life in the sea; building interdisciplinary teams to further our understanding of key processes in the ocean system. She has led research expeditions using submersibles and remotely operated vehicles to remote and deep, unexplored parts of the ocean such as the Bransfield Strait off the Western Antarctic Peninsula, the deepest hydrothermal vents in the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean and a range of sites along the mid-Atlantic Ridge. She has changed the understanding of how mineral deposits form at the seafloor and how chemicals are dispersed across ocean basins and drive global biogeochemical processes. She has applied geochemical approaches to sediment samples in innovative ways to reconstruct past carbon fluxes around volcanic islands in the Southern Ocean and to understand the past operation of the Pacific Ocean.

She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton and a past President of the Challenger Society for Marine Science. She a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Biology.

She is passionate about education and ocean literacy in particular, providing cultural enrichment by supporting lifelong learning. She was the architect and lead educator for the FutureLearn-hosted online course ‘Exploring our Ocean’, attracting over 60k learners of all ages, from across the world. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is a strong advocate for the power of mentorship to change individual lives and transform organisations.

Expertise and Public Engagement

Rachel regularly provides advice and direction for a range of international and UK organisations and high-profile programmes. For example, oral evidence she provided to the Cross-Party Environmental Audit Committee Sustainable Seas Inquiry influenced their conclusion that “the government should use its influence internationally to impose a moratorium on exploitation licences in [deep sea] environments.”, a position now supported by UK government.

She was appointed by Cabinet in 2021 as a Non-Executive Director for the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and is Chair of the Cefas Science Advisory Committee, providing leadership and challenge around the Cefas Science and Evidence Strategy which in turn advises government on fisheries policy, sustainable oceans and their contribution to net zero ambitions for the UK and wider territories.

She has contributed widely to documentaries (BBC Earth Story, Channel 4 Deep Diving with the Russians), radio interviews (BBC World Service, Woman’s Hour, Today Programme, multiple local radio stations), written journalism, podcasts, live streams and other social media content. Her BBC Radio 4 Life Scientific in 2018 was highlighted by Pick of the Week for its ‘brilliantly clear communication’.

Rachel is a keen runner, gradually upping the distance covered and raising money for a range of charities and causes over the years through sponsorship.

    News

    King's students return to the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom for graduation

    Students from the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London crossed the stage at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) to receive...

    Graduation (1)

    Professor Sally Marlow delivers her inaugural lecture, Never Too Late

    On Tuesday 23 April 2024, Professor Marlow delivered her inaugural lecture as Associate Dean of Impact and Professor of Practice in Public Understanding of...

    Professor Sally Marlow in front of a screen with the title of her talk Never Too Late

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    King’s opened its doors to the public to explore the latest AI developments at this five-day festival.

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    Professor Berkhout will lead a cross-university drive to rapidly scale King’s response to the climate emergency

    Photo of Professor Frans Berkhout

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    Faculty recognised for embedding sustainability principles in its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

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    Australian and UK ministers outline importance of the Indo-Pacific region to global security and prosperity

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    The Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan at King's

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    The report looks to examine university pensions.

    An image card with text in the top centre that reads 'A Pensions Policy Institute Report'. The Pensions Policy Institute's logo is in the centre of the image card. At the bottom centre of the image card is text that reads 'Kindly sponsored by...' which is followed by King's College London's logo.

    Events

    23AprNever Too Late

    Professor Sally Marlow - Inaugural Lecture

    Join us in celebrating Professor Sally Marlow's inaugural lecture on 'Never Too Late.''

    Please note: this event has passed.

    26FebWISS 2024 - Event on KCL Webpage - Many Faces - 780 x 440

    Women in STEMM: Mind the Gap - a leap towards equality

    Join our Women in STEMM Season - a month-long celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine at King's.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    24MayData Blue Green Lines BTHTTA AdobeStock_213051490

    Bringing the Human to the Artificial: An AI Panel

    Experts from a range of AI fields join Michael Luck, Director of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence, to consider key AI developments, issues and...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    27MarAfrica Research Forum 2023

    Africa's Position in a (Dis)Ordered Multipolar World

    The lecture will reflect on the emerging global (dis)order, how Africa should renegotiate its position within this context in flux, and what role, if any,...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    26SepMillennium bridge

    Walk2COP27 London Townhall

    Join this Townhall meeting in the run-up to COP27.

    Please note: this event has passed.

      News

      King's students return to the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom for graduation

      Students from the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London crossed the stage at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) to receive...

      Graduation (1)

      Professor Sally Marlow delivers her inaugural lecture, Never Too Late

      On Tuesday 23 April 2024, Professor Marlow delivered her inaugural lecture as Associate Dean of Impact and Professor of Practice in Public Understanding of...

      Professor Sally Marlow in front of a screen with the title of her talk Never Too Late

      King's scientists discover enzyme used in laundry detergent can recycle single-use plastics

      New method of chemical recycling achieves full degradation of plastics within 24 hours

      Dr Alex Brogan and Susana conducting research in the lab

      King's supercharges science with major investment in talent, education and research

      King’s is investing £45.5 million in science talent, research, education and infrastructure to accelerate growth, interdisciplinary collaboration and...

      King's science student

      New multidisciplinary natural sciences degree launched at King's

      Starting in September 2024, the undergraduate degree aims to empower students to solve major societal challenges at the interface of scientific disciplines

      Chemistry students in the lab

      'Inspirational, informative and thought-provoking': King's Festival of Artificial Intelligence

      King’s opened its doors to the public to explore the latest AI developments at this five-day festival.

      AI Festival AI Panel Auditorium 2

      Professor Frans Berkhout appointed as Assistant Principal (King's Climate & Sustainability)

      Professor Berkhout will lead a cross-university drive to rapidly scale King’s response to the climate emergency

      Photo of Professor Frans Berkhout

      King's at forefront for embedding sustainability in nursing and midwifery education

      Faculty recognised for embedding sustainability principles in its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

      sustainabilitystory

      Australian and UK ministers outline importance of the Indo-Pacific region to global security and prosperity

      The Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan spoke of the importance of deepening...

      The Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan at King's

      Independent report looks for best way forward for university pensions

      The report looks to examine university pensions.

      An image card with text in the top centre that reads 'A Pensions Policy Institute Report'. The Pensions Policy Institute's logo is in the centre of the image card. At the bottom centre of the image card is text that reads 'Kindly sponsored by...' which is followed by King's College London's logo.

      Events

      23AprNever Too Late

      Professor Sally Marlow - Inaugural Lecture

      Join us in celebrating Professor Sally Marlow's inaugural lecture on 'Never Too Late.''

      Please note: this event has passed.

      26FebWISS 2024 - Event on KCL Webpage - Many Faces - 780 x 440

      Women in STEMM: Mind the Gap - a leap towards equality

      Join our Women in STEMM Season - a month-long celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine at King's.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      24MayData Blue Green Lines BTHTTA AdobeStock_213051490

      Bringing the Human to the Artificial: An AI Panel

      Experts from a range of AI fields join Michael Luck, Director of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence, to consider key AI developments, issues and...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      27MarAfrica Research Forum 2023

      Africa's Position in a (Dis)Ordered Multipolar World

      The lecture will reflect on the emerging global (dis)order, how Africa should renegotiate its position within this context in flux, and what role, if any,...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      26SepMillennium bridge

      Walk2COP27 London Townhall

      Join this Townhall meeting in the run-up to COP27.

      Please note: this event has passed.