Jane Francis

Jane Francis
File:Jane Francis.jpeg
Born	(1956-10-00)October , 1956
Fields	Palaeoclimatology
Institutions	British Antarctic Survey University of Adelaide University of Leeds
Alma mater	University of Southampton
Thesis	The fossil forests of the basal Purbeck formation (upper jurassic) of Dorset, Southern England (1982)
Notable awards	Polar Medal (2002)

Jane E. Francis is the current Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth female to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research.

Education

Francis received her undergradate degree in Geology and PhD at the University of Southampton.

Career

Francis remained at Southampton until 1982 as a NERC research student in Biology/Geology. From here she continued on as a NERC postdoctoral research fellow for two years, until 1984, at Bedford College, University of London.

She was appointed a position as Palaeobotanist to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), from 1984-1986. This was followed by five years as a Postdoctoral research Associate at the University of Adelaide. In 1991 she accepted a position as a lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Leeds. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1996 and to Professor of Palaeoclimatology in 2004. On 1 October 2013 Professor Francis took up her present post as Director of BAS, succeeding interim director, Alan Rodger.

Awards

Francis's contributions have been recognised with numerous awards. Most notably, she was awarded the Polar Medal in 2002 for outstanding contribution to British polar research, and was the fourth woman ever to receive the award. She has also been recognized by the Paleontological Society (Presidents Award), the US NSF (Antarctic Service Medal), the US Navy (Antarctic medal), and the Geological Society of London (Coke Award).