Rosemary Deem

We have learned with sadness of the passing of Professor Rosemary Deem, who was both a graduate and an honorary graduate of the University,

Rosemary Deem came to Leicester in 1968 to study for a BA in Sociology, followed by an MPhil in Education. During her career she held academic posts at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, Loughborough University, the University of York, the Open University, Lancaster University, the University of Bristol and finally Royal Holloway, University of London.

At Lancaster she was Dean of Social Sciences and founding director of the University Graduate School; at Bristol she was Director of Research for Social Sciences and Law; and at Royal Holloway she was Dean of the Doctoral School and Vice-Principal (Education). From 2009 to 2012 she held a visiting professorship at the University of Leicester.

At various times she was Chair of the British Sociological Association, director of the UK Education Subject Centre ESCalate and was Vice-Chair of the Society for Research into Higher Education. She was joint editor of The Sociological Review and co-editor of the Springer journal Higher Education.

In 2013 she was appointed OBE for services to higher education and social sciences in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and in July 2014 the University of Leicester awarded her an honorary Doctor of Letters for her academic contribution to the sociology of education. In July 2015 she became the first woman to chair the UK Council for Graduate Education.

The College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities bestows the annual Rosemary Deem Awards for Social Science Doctoral Researchers in her honour.