Patricia Forbes is a Full Professor in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Pretoria and holds the Rand Water Chemistry Research Chair. Patricia has a passion for teaching the next generation of chemists and in encouraging students to develop an understanding of key fundamental concepts via active and inquiry-based learning. To this end she developed an educational spectrophotometer (called the SpecUP) which students can assemble from a kit containing 3D printed components, and then use it to generate analytically useful results. Patricia received the Chemical Education award of the South African Chemical Institute in 2014; the Wharton QS Reimagine Education Award for Presence Learning in 2015 and the University of Pretoria Teaching Excellence and Innovation Laureate award in 2016.