Queens’ professor appointed as Head of the School of Physical Sciences

Edmonds will commence her four-year term on 1 OctoberRyan Teh for Varsity

The Vice-President of Queens’ College, Professor Marie Edmonds FRS, has been appointed the next Head of the University of Cambridge’s School of the Physical Sciences.

Edmonds, who is currently Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, will commence her four-year term on 1 October, succeeding Nigel Peake, who is stepping down to become master of Darwin College.

The School of the Physical Sciences is one of six academic schools that make up the University, and encompasses departments including Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Material Science, and Astronomy.

Edmonds’ research focuses on understanding the impact of volcanic activity on the environment and the habitability of our planet. Her work has been used to develop a method of monitoring volcanoes, and she is a key collaborator in the Deep Carbon Project, which assesses the sources of carbon stored in rocks beneath the Earth’s surface.

Through her work on volcano observatories worldwide, she has become increasingly interested in how volcanoes impact people and the environment.

Edmonds was elected a fellow at Queens’ in 2025, and is currently serving as the Ron Oxburgh Fellow in Earth Sciences at the College. Speaking on this, she commented that she was “humbled and honoured […] to be recognised in this way by my distinguished scientific peers,” adding that she hoped to “promote science for the benefit of humanity”.

The professor of volcanology and petrology has a long-standing connection with Cambridge, having previously studied at the University as both an undergraduate and postgraduate from 1994 until 2001.

The academic’s PhD research concerned the study and active monitoring of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, whose eruption began in 1995. She returned to Cambridge in 2006 as a lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences.

Dame Menna Rawlings, President of Queens’ College, congratulated Edmonds on the appointment, stating she will “bring all her expertise and leadership to the role”. Rawlings added: “We can be very proud.”

According to Edmonds, her appointment also comes at a time when the landscape for women in academia, especially science, is becoming increasingly equitable. Speaking to Erin Martin-Jones in March 2025, she reflected on experiencing “positive changes within academia,” including greater opportunities for women to pursue “more balanced and flexible work”.

Edmonds also said she aimed to ensure that her previous department could “be a place where we can be content and, above all, accepting of each other”.

Speaking to Varsity about her priorities for the role, Edmonds explained that her “principle responsibility here is to guide and support the departments through strategic decision-making and financial planning”.

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!