Jane Francis

Professor Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, (born October 1956) is a British paleoclimatologist who is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research. She is currently the Chancellor of the University of Leeds.

Education Francis was educated at Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School in Canterbury, and received both her undergraduate degree in Geology and her PhD from the University of Southampton.

Career Francis was a NERC research student in geology/biology at Southampton University from 1979 until 1982.

She was promoted to Professor of Palaeoclimatology in the School of Earth and Environment and was the Director for the Centre for Polar Science at the University of Leeds,

Francis's principal interests are in palaeoclimatology and palaeobotany. She specialises in the study of fossil plants, and their use as tools for climate interpretation and information about past biodiversity: for example, understanding past climate change during greenhouse and icehouse periods. Her research has emphasised the "Antarctic paradox," that although the Antarctic is largely inhospitable now, its abundant plant fossils indicate a drastically warmer past climate. She has undertaken more than 16 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic.

Francis was described by the Geological Society of London during the awarding of her Coke Medal as playing a "pivotal role in shaping and directing the Earth science carried out in polar regions, through her extensive service on a staggeringly wide range of national and international policy committees."

Francis holds a number of memberships of national and international scientific bodies.

She received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Leeds in 2014, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth, also in 2014. In that same year she was named "Explorer Scientist" among 100 leading UK scientists by The Science Council. She has also been awarded the Coke Medal from the Geological Society of London (2014); the President's Award of the Paleontological Society; the Antarctic Service Medal from the US National Science Foundation;

In 2017, Francis became the seventh Chancellor of the University of Leeds, succeeding Melvyn Bragg. In December 2020 the British Antarctic Survey named a peak on Adelaide Island, Francis Peak, after her. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2021.