Staff

Professor Jacqueline (Jack) Hannam joined NRI in September 2025 as the Head of Agriculture, Health and Environment Department. She was previously Professor in Pedology at Cranfield University leading the Land Information System and Soil Informatics team.  Prior to her time at Cranfield, she held research positions at ETH Zurich and the University of Liverpool. 

Jack’s research focuses on soil data, soil health, land use change, regenerative agriculture and soil policy. It has included digital soil mapping using AI to predict and map soil properties, modelling agricultural land capability under climate change, and developing new frameworks for soil health indicators. She is interested in how different forms of soil data and soil knowledge can be integrated into model and analysis frameworks to inform local sustainable soil management, land use decisions and national monitoring schemes to track soil health. She works in transdisciplinary teams developing new concepts in soil and land systems and translates these into evidence for decision making. 

Jack was President and trustee of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) and is currently chair of the BSSS policy working group. She works at the science-policy interface providing expert evidence in government inquiries and has co-developed new policy with soil policy teams. Jack is a member of the Natural England (NE) Science Advisory Committee, an independent committee tasked with ensuring NE’s work is based on sound science and evidence. 

Jack is a member of the Centre for Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths focusing on practice-led interdisciplinary artistic research to support liveable ecosystems. She co-founded Soapbox Science Milton Keynes a public engagement platform spotlighting women in science, been interviewed on broadcast media (Countryfile, BBC R4 Today Programme, Sky News and BBC World) and has contributed to podcasts and trade journals.  

Professor Mark van der Giezen joins the University of Greenwich as Professor and Associate Director of the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), leading the Institute’s portfolio in research and knowledge exchange. He is an internationally recognised microbiologist with a long-standing interest in anaerobic microbial eukaryotes, their evolution, and their role in human and animal health. Over his career, Mark has developed a strong interdisciplinary profile, working across microbiology, One Health, food systems, diagnostics, and translational research.

Before joining NRI, Mark spent six years at the University of Stavanger, Norway, where he played a key role in strengthening links between the university and the local university hospital, generating significant external research income, and developing collaborations with local livestock veterinarians and an innovative diagnostics company. During this period, he also led substantial improvements to the MSc Biological Chemistry curriculum, resulting in enhanced student satisfaction, clearer assessments, and new research-led teaching approaches. Prior to his time in Norway, Mark held academic positions at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Exeter, where he contributed to curriculum design, research-led education, and interdisciplinary research programmes.

Mark is widely known for his research on anaerobic mitochondria, the evolution of eukaryotes in low-oxygen environments, and the biology of intestinal protists such as Blastocystis, Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia intestinalis. He has published over 90 scientific works, primarily peer-reviewed papers, but also book chapters and conference proceedings, including publications in leading journals such as Nature, Current Biology and eLife, and his research has been cited more than 7,000 times. His collaborations span Europe and beyond, including long-standing partnerships with the Statens Serum Institute (Denmark), Cefas, Rothamsted Research, and clinical and veterinary diagnostic laboratories.

He has supervised numerous PhD students to completion and serves on national and international panels, including the Royal Society of Biology’s Advanced Accreditation Assessment Panel. Mark is also active in science communication and public engagement, having organised Nobel Prize seminars, Pint of Science events, and multiple outreach activities.

I have over five years’ experience working in Professional Services and project-focused roles, with the majority of my career spent at the University of Greenwich providing student centred support, academic governance, and operational delivery across faculties and central teams. My work has focused on project coordination, data management, and stakeholder engagement within higher education and infrastructure project environments. I joined the University of Greenwich as student information officer, in which I provided pastoral support to students.

I later worked as a Student Records Assistant, supporting large-scale data management activities across systems such as Banner and Excel. My responsibilities included ensuring data accuracy, supporting regulatory compliance, and improving reporting processes. Through analytical review of workflows, I contributed to service improvements that reduced data errors and improved operational efficiency, working collaboratively with academic teams, IT colleagues, and senior administrators.

I also worked as a Faculty Standards and Conduct Officer, where I supported academic governance, integrity processes, and policy implementation across faculties. I currently work as a Project Controller within NRI, supporting the administrative and financial management of externally funded projects. In this role, I work closely with Project Leaders, finance teams, and internal and external partners to ensure projects are set up correctly, monitored effectively, and delivered in line with contractual, financial, and reporting requirements. My specialist areas include project data management, budget monitoring, contract and subcontract administration, invoicing support, audit readiness, and resolving data discrepancies. I regularly liaise with stakeholders across departments and international partners, contributing to accurate reporting, compliance, and effective project delivery.

Prior to joining the University of Greenwich, I worked as an Assistant Project Manager within the construction and infrastructure sector, supporting the delivery of large-scale projects. In this role, I supported project planning, scheduling, risk management, budget monitoring, and stakeholder coordination, working closely with engineers, contractors, and clients to ensure projects were delivered on time and within scope. This experience strengthened my foundational project management skills and informs my structured approach to change and delivery work within higher education.

My professional interests includes project controls, data-driven decision making, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement across complex organisational environments.