Rachel Brazil
Rachel has been a freelance science writer for almost a decade.
Based in London, she writes for a variety of publications on scientific areas, including chemistry, materials science, biomedical and pharmaceutical science, and science and innovation policy.
Prior to this, she worked in a number of scientific organizations, including the RSC, the Royal Institution and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta). From 2006–2010 she ran Nesta's national researcher development programme, Crucible. Focused on encouraging creativity and stimulating interdisciplinary encounters between early career researchers, Crucible has now been adopted by a number of UK Universities.
Rachel herself has an interdisciplinary academic background, with degrees in chemistry and a PhD in archaeological conservation. She is also a trainer for the British Council’s Researcher Connect programme, teaching in China, Russia and Mexico.
BusinessTaking plastic out of performance paper coatings
SGMA’s silicate sol-gel is a sustainable alternative for packaging such as coffee cups
- Careers
Studying chemistry in the age of Covid-19
University students across the UK are enjoying a mixture of online and practical learning as departments adjust to new restrictions
- Feature
Chemistry for all?
Rachel Brazil reports on the RSC’s five-year project to see whether students from disadvantaged backgrounds can be encouraged to study chemistry
- Careers
Job hunting in a recession
Persistence is needed, but there are still career opportunities for chemists
- Careers
How chemo-ethnography puts chemistry in context
New social science fields are exploring how chemists and chemicals affect society
- Feature
The function of folding
Can chemists make molecules that fold up as well as proteins? Rachel Brazil talks to the people trying to create foldamers
- Careers
UK universities prepare for a new academic year
Much uncertainty remains as chemistry departments plan how they’ll resume undergraduate teaching
- Business
Developing antiviral mask technology in a pandemic
Surface chemistry strategies play a pivotal role in personal protective equipment that can neutralise the Sars-CoV-2 virus
- Feature
Supporting the chemistry community
The Chemists’ Community Fund – formerly the Benevolent Fund – has been helping people for 100 years. Rachel Brazil looks at how it works, now it may be more needed than ever before
- Opinion
Eunice Foote: the mother of climate change
The first person to link carbon dioxide to atmospheric warming has almost been forgotten. Rachel Brazil uncovers her story
- Feature
The weirdness of water
Can we explain the strange properties of water by thinking of it as two different liquids? Rachel Brazil dives into the ongoing debate
- Careers
Moving towards fairer academic rewards
New incentive systems take into account more than just a researcher’s publication history
- Feature
Can chemists crack our cells’ sugar code?
Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to understand the sweet mystery of the glycome
- Business
From philanthropy to sustainability
Corporate Social Responsibility in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries is changing
- Feature
Borrowing scientific theories
Can re-purposed science help us understand more than the physical world? Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to play swap
- Careers
Developing colour-changing technologies
Lauren Bowker and Louise Anderson of The Unseen explain how they’re fusing materials chemistry and art
- Feature
Chemical clocks for archaeological artefacts
Radiocarbon dating is a standard technique, but what if your artefacts are inorganic? Rachel Brazil finds out how to accurately age pottery and even metals
