Deborah graduated with an MA from the Royal College of Art after study at the London College of Furniture and Dartington College of Arts. She is the author of 8 books including: (Queen) Victoria (Carlton 2001); Ingenious Women (Sutton 2003); and The History of Toys (Sutton 2006). She is also co-editor, with Dr Stephen Wilson, of Memories of the Future (Peter Lang 2017).

A long standing interest of her’s is the relationship between industrial design and engineering, which became a focus when researching for Ingenious Women and The History of Toys. It’s also proved to be invaluable in Deborah’s current work as the editor of Newcomen Links.

She was a member of the V&A Trustees’ Committee of the Museum of Childhood; and served on the committee of the Centre for Cultural Memory at the IMLR, University of London. The variety of her work leads to lecturing to a diverse range of audiences on: women and innovation, Frank Hornby and Meccano, design in the Cold War and archives of memory included at:  Newcastle University Business School; the Institute of Patent Agents; the Centre for Cultural Memory; the Wiener Library;  the Newcomen Society and at the British Embassy in Berlin for the launch of Geniale Frauen (the German edition of Ingenious Women).