Dr Tamás Kovács, Head of Maths and Science at A&J School, has been awarded the honorary title of Honorary Professor of Practice in Science Education by the International Association for Quality Assurance in Pre-Tertiary and Higher Education (QAHE) and Kennedy University. The distinction marks a career that began in a Budapest chemistry laboratory and now runs a school department preparing students for universities in Britain, the United States and Europe.
Kovács took an MSc in Chemistry in 2004 and a PhD in Physical Chemistry in 2007, both from Eötvös Loránd University and both graded outstanding, the doctorate summa cum laude. His doctoral work was in combustion, plasma chemistry and catalysis. He taught mathematics and physical chemistry to undergraduates and supervised a master’s project before leaving for Leeds. From 2007 to 2016 he was a research fellow in the School of Chemistry and the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds, working on combustion, nucleation and atmospheric chemistry. Collaborators named in his record include the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, the British Antarctic Survey, NASA, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He records 45 publications, five of them books, and an h-index of 17. Papers from that period include work on crystal nucleation and on the atmospheric lifetime of sulphur hexafluoride.
He qualified as a physics teacher in 2017, with a PGCE from Leeds Beckett University, and taught at Heckmondwike Grammar School and Benton Park School. At University Centre Leeds he lectured in biomedical science and then managed the higher-education engineering programme, including apprenticeships and employer links. He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. Since October 2024 he has led maths and science at A&J School, teaching from primary level to the International Baccalaureate and mentoring university applicants. Recent writing listed in his curriculum vitae turns to STEM teaching, practical sessions in higher education, and questions in quantum foundations.
