A lecturer who played an instrumental role in the battle to save a university's prestigious chemistry department has been presented with a "life-changer" award.

Dr Hazel Cox has been heralded as an inspirational hero by the University and College Union (UCU) for her part in keeping the subject in the syllabus at University of Sussex.

On Wednesday (may 16) she will be presented with the union's Life Changers prize at a ceremony in London.

She will be joined by Jane Challenger-Gillit, a lecturer at the University of Brighton, who will also receive one of the awards for her efforts to encourage local students to apply to university.

Dr Cox was a member of the "A Team" of academics who rallied Sussex's student body into action when vice-chancellor Alasdair Smith announced his intention to axe chemistry in March 2006.

The campaign gathered national and international support and eventually triumphed, bucking a trend of science department closures and ultimately leading to an injection of Government funds.

Dr Cox's efforts were vindicated last month when Sussex's chemistry department was named the best in the country.

A UCU spokesman said the campaign had been unprecedented in its scale and success.

UCU joint general secretary Sally Hunt said: "People like Hazel Cox are genuine life changers. We all need somebody to believe in us and to show us the way, and Hazel's fighting spirit and love of her subject is an example to us all."

Dr Cox was one of five chemistry staff members, lead by head of department Dr Gerry Lawless, who worked out a rescue plan.

She said: "I remember tears rolling down my eyes when I heard the news. We had worked relentlessly to keep the department running for years in the face of budget cuts. To find out after all that hard work was incredibly sad.

"The university thought we'd be small and tiny and just go away, but little did they know that we're all quite feisty and passionate. Chemistry is fundamental to UK industry and hopefully our campaign did not just save chemistry at Sussex but secured other chemistry and physics departments around the UK."

Others involved in the campaign have praised Dr Cox's role. She encouraged students to contact their MPs, talk to their parents, contact local schools and persuade people to sign an online petition.

UCU branch official Jim Guild said: "She activated virtually the entire student body and whole groups of people outside the university to get on board and save the department. She was the lynchpin, the central energy bolt that pulled the department together. She is very much an evangelist for chemistry as a subject"

Liz Atkinson, one of the student campaigners, said: "Hazel was completely central to the entire thing. I can't think of a single stage of it that didn't go through her at some point. She was just our hero. She was the one we were all running up to hugging at the end."