Valeria Arrighi (VA) is Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and Acting Head of Materials Chemistry.
She graduated in Pure Chemistry in Italy and after teaching Chemistry for a year and spending a short period in industry, she returned to academia. She was awarded a PhD in Polymer Science in 1992 from Imperial College and continued working there as an RA before joining Heriot-Watt University in 1996, as Lecturer.
Her main interest is in the study of the properties of polymers including mechanical, aging but also structure, dynamics and order. For some of these, her group is making extensive use of large scale neutron scattering facilities. Currently, main activities are in polymer nanocomposites and membranes for water purification.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and co-author of the polymer textbook: Polymers: Chemistry and Physics of Modern Materials (J.M.G. Cowie and V. Arrighi, 3rd edition, CRC Press, 2007).