Professor Jane Rickson
Professor of Soil Erosion and Conservation
Location: Building 37, Cranfield campus
E: j.rickson@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x2705
Environmental Science and Technology
Current activities
Professor Jane Rickson's current activities include research, teaching and consultancy, focussing on soil conservation and the processes of land degradation, especially soil erosion and slope instability. Teaching includes the delivery of modules to long and short courses on Soil Erosion and Bioengineering, Watershed Management for Soil Conservation, Land Improvement Engineering and Urban Land and Water Management. Her research and consultancy experience has included the use of conservation tillage for soil and water protection in Europe (SOWAP ), the evaluation of soil erosion control products (including geotextiles and soil conditioners), soil erosion risk assessment, application of soil erosion models (such as EUROSEM) for soil conservation planning, and the use of vegetation for soil erosion control and for slope stabilisation. Field experience includes the monitoring of soil erosion, using experimental plots and rainfall simulation and the environmental impacts of soil erosion - both on-site and off-site. Jane has supervised MSc, MPhil and PhD students in the subjects of soil erosion and conservation, including co-supervision of a BBSRC sponsored PhD student, studying the microbiology of arable soil surfaces.
Jane is currently leader of the Soil Conservation and Management group within National Soil Resources Institute.
Clients
- DEFRA
- EU LIFE Environment Programme
- Common Fund for Commodities
- Syngenta
- BBSRC
- WRAP/ ReMaDe
- International Jute Organisation
- Ministry of Defence
- TRL
- International Trade Centre
- Construction Information & Research Association (CIRIA)
- UN
- FAO.
Background
Professor Jane Rickson has over 20 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of soil erosion and soil conservation. She is a geomorphologist by background, specialising in land resource management and the control of land degradation. She undertook her Masters course in Land Resource Management, followed by a PhD in the Use Of Geotextiles For Soil Erosion Control. She has studied the processes of soil erosion, using this knowledge to identify effective control strategies, so conserving soil resources. She has worked in Europe, Nepal, India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Swaziland, USA, Bangladesh, Morocco and Thailand. She has published her research interests extensively in journals, books and articles, including a "Technical Specification and Market Study of Potentially Important Jute Geotextiles" (CFC/IJO). She is sole editor of "Conserving our Soil Resources" (CAB International) and co-author of "Slope Stabilisation and Erosion Control: a Bioengineering Approach".
