Professor Ros Rickaby Recognised with OBE in 2025 New Year Honours
Professor Ros Rickaby, marine biogeochemist and Chair of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences, has been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by His Majesty the King. The New Year Honours List recognises the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the UK. Ros has been honoured with this high accolade for her services to Biogeochemistry.
Ros joined the University of Oxford in 2002 and has been a Professor of Biogeochemistry since 2010. Prior to her appointment to the Department, she received her PhD with Harry Elderfield from the University of Cambridge in 1995, before moving to Harvard to work with Dan Schrag for postdoctoral research. For the past 30 years, Ros’ research has utilised the past co-evolution of life, environmental chemistry, and Earth’s climate to inform predictions of future change. Her passion for the natural world has been an enduring theme of Ros’ work, and she has spent time on various conservation projects, even volunteering as a penguin carer in the Boston Aquarium during her time at Harvard. She has been recognised with prestigious medals from the European Geosciences Union, American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of London, and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.
Ros has pioneered an interdisciplinary blend of Biology, Geology and Chemistry to define the evolving role of mineralising phytoplankton in driving climate. Her research has unravelled the interplay between their adaptation and the carbon cycle over timescales ranging from hundreds to millions of years. By demonstrating that signals of palaeophysiology can be recovered from biomineral proxy records, she has challenged the belief that biological processes cloud their interpretation – and thus the contribution that they can make to our understanding of past environmental change. Ros’ distinctive approach is to read geological history from signals of adaptation within genes of modern organisms, which play out in the evolving affinity and kinetics of the expressed enzymes, or isotopic signals of adaptation that leave a footprint in fossils and biomolecules. She has authored over 140 papers and co-authored the book Evolution’s Destiny: Co-evolving Chemistry of the Environment and Life. Throughout her career, Ros has been committed to investigating climate solutions, and is currently researching methods to sequester carbon within the natural system and mechanisms to direct finance towards climate and sustainability goals, acting as a technical advisor to the Global Returns Project.
“I am absolutely gobsmacked, humbled and hugely grateful to receive this recognition from His Royal Highness, King Charles. It has been truly a thrill to uncover the power of the plankton in maintaining a habitable Earth, and to appreciate the importance of planetary-scale thinking for plotting forward pathways. All of my research, and indeed my life, has flourished through the support of, and interactions with brilliant older and younger minds from across the world. I hope that the entire team can share in a warm swell of pride as we continue the push towards a sustainable future”.
- Professor Ros Rickaby OBE
Ros’ efficacy as a communicator has been recognised through numerous invited and keynote talks around the world, including the Geochemical Society Paul Gast Lecture. Dedicated to outreach, she published an essay for primary school age children entitled “Oceans on Earth” in George and the Blue Moon by Lucy Hawking. She has appeared in the award-winning documentary Thin Ice, a short video for the Hay Levels series, in a YouTube film Adaptability to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and in an Audible audiobook A Grown-up Guide to the Oceans. However, perhaps her greatest impact has been as a scientific mentor to countless brilliant young scientists with whom she has been so lucky to work; many of whom have gone on to PhDs and faculty positions in leading institutes around the world.
“I am really pleased that Ros’ dedication to the Earth Sciences has been recognised with this much deserved honour. She is a role model to women in STEM.”
- Professor Mike Kendall, Head of Department
Many congratulations to Ros on this incredible achievement.
