Dame Julia Stretton Higgins DBE FRS FREng (née Downes) is a polymer scientist. Since 1976 she has been based at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, where (since 2007) she is Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator. She has chaired the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, the Athena Project (which aims for the advancement of women in science, engineering and technology in Higher Education), and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. She has been president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Physics. She was appointed a CBE in 1996 before being named a dame in 2001.