Nicola Spaldin is the Professor of Materials Theory at ETH Zurich. A native of Sunderland, she studied Natural Sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge and obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. After postdoctoral research in Applied Physics at Yale University she joined the Materials Department at University of California, Santa Barbara as Assistant, Associate then Full Professor before returning to Europe in 2010.

Spaldin developed the class of materials known as multiferroics, which combine simultaneous ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity, for which she has received the American Physical Society's McGroddy Prize for Materials, the Körber European Science Prize and the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award, among many other honors.

Spaldin is a passionate science educator, author of a popular text book on Magnetic Materials, director of her department’s study program, and holder of the ETH Golden Owl Award for excellence in teaching. When not trying to make a room-temperature superconductor, she can be found playing her clarinet, or skiing or climbing in the Alps.