| Pamela Thomas | |
| Work Institutions: | University of Warwick |
| Alma Mater: | University of Oxford |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Mike Glazer |
| Known For: | Condensed matter physics |
Pamela Anne Thomas is a British condensed matter physicist, and former Pro Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Warwick,[1] where she leads the Ferroelectrics & Crystallography group.[2] Her work focuses on the structure and related properties of ferroelectric, piezoelectric and nonlinear optical crystals, ceramics and thin-films.[3] In September 2020, she was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Faraday Institution, an organisation which advances energy storage science and technology.[4]
Thomas studied at Physics at the University of Oxford. She completed her DPhil, 'Optical activity in crystals' at the University of Oxford in 1987 under Professor Mike Glazer.[5]
In 1992, Thomas was awarded the Physical Crystallography Prize of the British Crystallographic Association.[6]
From 2009–2012, Thomas was the Director of the Science City Research Alliance (SCRA) for the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick.[7] SCRA was a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick, intended to provide world-leading research and knowledge support across three major platforms: advanced materials, energy futures and translational medicine.[8] [9] Set up in Warwick & Birmingham, with support from the European Regional Development Fund and by Advantage West Midlands, it provided a £58 M investment in state-of-the-art equipment, housed in purpose-designed buildings with dedicated technical support and HEFCE funded (£10 M) research fellows.[10]
In 2011, Thomas was appointed the Chair of the Faculty of Science at the University of Warwick.[11] Thomas was the Pro Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Warwick,[12] and served as a Pro Vice Chancellor from 2014 to 2021.[13] She served as a trustee of the Faraday Institution before being appointed its chief executive in September 2020,[14] and was previously on the board of the Alan Turing Institute where she represented the University of Warwick.[15] Thomas chaired the UK's Open Research Data Task Force,[16] [17] which was established by Jo Johnson in 2016.[18]