Professor Jacqueline McGlade

Jacqueline McGlade is currently Professor of Sustainable Development and Resilience at the Institute for Global Prosperity and Faculty of Engineering at University College London, UK, Frank Jackson Professor of the Environment at Gresham College and Professor in International Public Policy and Governance at Strathmore University Business School, Kenya.

She is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Northumbria Water Ltd, with a special focus on Essex and a Commissioner on the Essex Climate Commission. She is also Chief Scientist for Downforce Technologies Ltd., leading the development of a global data service accouting for the full value of land and natural capital. Previously she was UN Environment’s Chief Scientist and Chief Statistician; Executive Director of the European Environment Agency; Director of the UK Natural Environment Researc Council Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences; Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick; Director of Theoretical Ecology, FZ Jülich and Senior Scientist, Federal Government of Canada.

She has been a Board member of the Environment Agency (England and Wales), the Earth Centre Millennium Commission Project, and currently advises the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UK Space Agency, Open Government Platform and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

She has published more than 200 research publications and books, produced award winning films and radio series (ABC Ocean Planet, Planet reThink, Our Arctic Challenge, Environmental Film Atlas, BBC 4 Nature’s Numbers, Chaos, Ocean Planet, Sustaining Life, The Life Scientific ) and awards for her science (Knight of the Order of St James (Monaco); 2013 Gobal Citizen; 2017 Geospatial Ambassador, Il monitor del Giardino Award (Italy); Masaryk Gold Medal (Czech Republic); 1992 Minerva Prize (Germany); 1991 Jubileum Award (Sweden). Her current work is focussed on nature based solutions to climate adaptation, the circular bioeconomy, earth observation, ecosystem modelling, the impacts of pollution on human and ecosystem health, prosperity, intergenerational wellbeing and improving social capital. She develops geospatial, fuzzy logic and AI platforms for decision-making under high degrees of uncertainity e.g. EcoBalance, Flood Ranger and SimCoast.