Dr Maria Augusta Arruda

Maria Augusta Arruda holds a BSc. and PhD. in Pharmacology from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). During her PhD, she published a series of papers characterising ferriprotoporphyrin IX (free heme) as a prototypical proinflammatory agent. She later became a Lecturer in Pharmacology, leading a research group on redox signalling, being awarded the L’Oreal Award for Women in Science.Maria chaired the Academic Department of the pharmaceutical arm of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (Farmanguinhos), before joining the University of Nottingham in 2011, playing a pivotal role in the creation and management of the ground-breaking CAPES-University of Nottingham Programme in Drug Discovery.Since 2021, Maria has been Head of Researcher Development, being responsible for the training and development provision for the University of Nottingham’s research community, from MRes and PhDs to Research Supervisors and Senior Research Leaders.Maria has researched and experimented with novel ways of embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Researcher Development, Research Strategy and Science Diplomacy. Maria is also Chair of the University of Nottingham’s Race Equity Staff Network.