Prof. Nora de Leeuw, from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, is the CATSA Eminent
Visitor for 2023. Prof. de Leeuw is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and
Physical Sciences at the University of Leeds. She received her undergraduate education from the
Open University, UK and obtained her Ph.D. degree from the University of Bath, UK. Her
doctoral research considered polymorphs of calcium carbonate, which can be used for CO2
sequestration. After a stint as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Bath, she was appointed as a
Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Reading, before enjoying stints as a Professor
of Chemistry at the University College London (2007-2014), Cardiff University (2014-2019) and
currently, the University of Leeds (2020-present).
Her research field is computational chemistry and investigates biomaterials, sustainable energy,
and carbon capture and storage. Prof De Leeuw is interested in computational models of energy
materials, biomaterials and minerals. She uses molecular dynamics and density functional theory.
In addition, she designed computational models of olivine dust grains, a mineral that is common
to the solar system, and studied how it interacted with water at high temperatures. She
demonstrated that the grains could hold water at temperatures up to 630 °C. She studied the
chemistry of hot vents on the sea floor, which she proposed could produce the organic molecules
essential for life. She has also investigated biomaterials, such as the carbonated hydroxyapatite
present in bone and teeth. She studied the nucleation of calcium carbonate.