Obituary - Professor Anne Neville OBE FIMechE

It is with great regret we announce the death of Professor Anne Neville OBE, who was a Fellow of IMechE and the first female winner of our prestigious James Clayton Award. Professor Neville passed away on 2 July 2022 aged 52.

Anne, who was Professor of Tribology and Surface Engineering at the University of Leeds, was a world leading researcher in the fields of tribology and corrosion.

In 2016, Anne received the James Clayton Award which recognises an exceptional contribution to mechanical engineering and related science, technology, and invention. She won the Award for her work on corrosion and tribology problems in the oil industry and biomedical applications.

After secondary education at Maxwelltown High School in Dumfries, she attended Glasgow University where she studied Mechanical Engineering graduating BEng in 1992 and PhD in 1995.  Her thesis concerned the corrosion of engineering materials in marine environments. 

She was appointed a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Heriot-Watt University and in 2003 she moved to Leeds University where she was the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies and Professor of Tribology and Surface Engineering.

Ken Sorbie, Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, said:

“I worked directly with Anne for 20 years firstly at Heriot-Watt University and then for most of this time while she was at Leeds University, and we wrote a number of scientific papers together. Anne was the most imaginative, knowledgeable, intelligent and creative engineering scientist that I ever knew.  Her insights were brilliant and good ideas came to her like a natural.” 

At Leeds, Anne led many research projects including work on improving artificial knees and hips through a better understanding of how corrosion and wear interact.

Anne was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2005.  Her other numerous honours include the award of an OBE for services to engineering in 2017, election to the Royal Society of London (FRS) also in 2017, and election to the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2010.  She was elected a Fellow at IMechE in 2007.

Anne retired from Leeds University in 2020 after battling and living with cancer for many years.  She is survived by her husband Mark and daughter Rachel.