Contact Professor Jacqueline Hannam
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754586
- Email: j.a.hannam@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @Dirt_Science
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
Areas of expertise
- Digital Agriculture
- Monitoring and Environmental Informatics
- Natural Capital
- Soil
- Soil Resources
- Sustainable Land Systems
Background
Jack currently leads the Soil Informatics group and the LandIS team at Cranfield University, who are responsible for the national soil data for England and Wales . She is President of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS).
Jack's research on land use decisions is focused on soil data, soil health and soil policy. Her work in soil data and modelling fuses novel machine learning approaches with expert and local knowledge to develop new predictions of soil properties at national scales. She is interested in how different forms of soil data (e.g. spectroscopy or citizen-sourced data) can be used to inform local sustainable soil management and also feed into national monitoring schemes. Work on predictive mapping of land capability identified how climate change could affect the national capability of land for agriculture. The outputs have been used for decision making by the Welsh Government and Defra in national and local policies. Her work on soil health has developed proof-of-concept soil health indicators for government and land owners. She works closely with farmers and growers to implement regenerative agriculture for better soil health outcomes. Her policy-relevant research sees her working collaboratively with policymakers, bringing evidence directly into land use and soil policy design and implementation. She completed an 24 month secondment (2021-2023) in Welsh Government Soil Policy Team developing a new soil policy for Wales. She is a panel member for NERC.
She is a passionate science communicator and has been interviewed on BBC Countryfile, BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Sky News and BBC World. She founded Soapbox Science in Milton Keynes in 2015, a public outreach platform promoting women in science. She is a member of Cranfield University's Community and Public Engagement working group and the School of Water Energy and Environment, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group.
Research opportunities
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas: land use decisions for net zero; soil data, modelling and mapping; soil health; soil policy; regenerative agriculture; urban soil systems; transdisciplinary soil science (social science/art interface).
Previous PhD researchers:
Tom Storr
Grant Campbell
Timo Breure
Current activities
Soil and land use for NetZero
Land Use for Net Zero Hub (LUNZHub) England national team co-lead with Mike Morecroft at Natural England. Member of the Soil Health and carbon dynamics and Digital Transformations Topic Advisory Groups (UKRI, Defra, DESNZ, Scottish Government)
Land-Climate Research Programme: Scenarios and Pathways to Net Zero. Expert panel member (DESNZ)
Self-learning digital twins for sustainable land management. Project advisory board member (EPSRC AI for Net Zero) .
Soil data and land use decision modelling
Developing Bayesian approaches for soil property estimation at national scales (LandIS).
EU project to develop regional-scale harmonised soil data for the Danube Basin (Joint Research Centre with ISRIC).
Updated map of peat soils in Wales providing new estimates of soil carbon stock and GHG emissions (Welsh Government).
Land capability approaches applied in an ESRC project to determine how soil functions are impacted by land use change resulting from food and nutrition scenarios emerging from the UK response to COVID-19 and Brexit (ESRC ES/V004433/1).
Predictive Agricultural Land Classification in Wales (Welsh Government)
Soil health and regenerative agriculture
Developing indicators for soil health in England (JNCC/Defra)
David Clarke (PhD researcher NERC Centa2 DTP) is developing novel analytics frameworks that capitalise on-farm data to identify site-season interactions in soil and crop for sustainable intensification (with NIAB and BGS).
Harriet Gold (PhD researcher BBSRC FoodBioSystems DTP) is designing UK agricultural landscapes by developing mechanistic landscape-scale models for several terrestrial invertebrates to predict agroecosystem resilience (with University of Reading and Syngenta).
Naomi Paine (PhD researcher BBSRC FoodBioSystems DTP) is exploring the mechanisms of soil carbon stability under multiple regenerative agricuture practices (with University of Reading and Nottingham University).
Soil Policy
Co-produced a new Soil Policy Statement for Wales during 24 month secondment (2021-2023) in the Welsh Government Soil Policy Team supported by a team of PhD Policy Placements (Carmen Sanchez Garcia, Erik Button, Beth Roberts, Danielle Hunt, Nicola Wynn). She continues to work with the team to finalize the Soil Policy statement and associated work.
Co-authored an extensive synthesis of evidence (and digestible executive summary of the main findings) that forms the basis of the draft soil policy statement
Our researcher experiences developing soil policy that works in practice was based on effective partnerships and co-production between policy makers, researchers and key stakeholders. We presented our novel approaches at the first Soil Policy day at the World Congress of Soil Science in 2022.
Art/Science interface
Jack is a member of the Centre for Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths. She contributed to a NERC Creative Climate Connections project 'Sensing Soil' working with Dr Ros Gray and artist Harun Morrison in the Goldsmiths Art and Research Garden and participants from Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network on the climate and cultural connections of soil in urban environments.
She also hosts artists Sarah Strachan at the National Soil Archive at Cranfield University who are using the resources as research in art practice.
Clients
NERC
ESRC
Innovate UK
Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission
Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Welsh Government
Scottish Government
Forestry Commission
Environment Agency
JNCC
Gs Growers
Dstl
Cobham Antenna Systems
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Brevik EC, Krzic M, Elbasiouny H, Dawson L, Hannam JA, .... (2025). Where Are We With Gender Parity in Academia and Professional Societies? A Multinational Look at Women in Soil Science. European Journal of Soil Science, 76(1)
- Clarke DE, Stockdale EA, Hannam JA, Marchant BP & Hallett SH. (2024). Whole-farm yield map datasets – Data validation for exploring spatiotemporal yield and economic stability. Agricultural Systems, 218
- Clarke DE, Stockdale EA, Hannam JA, Marchant BP & Hallett SH. (2024). Spatial-temporal variability in nitrogen use efficiency: Insights from a long-term experiment and crop simulation modeling to support site specific nitrogen management. European Journal of Agronomy, 158
- Sánchez-García C, Button ES, Wynne-Jones S, Porter H, Rugg I, .... (2023). Finding common ground: Co-producing national soil policy in Wales through academic and government collaboration. Soil Security, 11(June)
- Girkin NT, Burgess PJ, Cole L, Cooper HV, Honorio Coronado E, .... (2023). The three-peat challenge: business as usual, responsible agriculture, and conservation and restoration as management trajectories in global peatlands. Carbon Management, 14(1)
- Sakrabani R, Garnett K, Knox JW, Rickson J, Pawlett M, .... (2023). Towards net zero in agriculture: Future challenges and opportunities for arable, livestock and protected cropping systems in the UK. Outlook on Agriculture, 52(2)
- Breure TS, Prout JM, Haefele SM, Milne AE, Hannam JA, .... (2022). Comparing the effect of different sample conditions and spectral libraries on the prediction accuracy of soil properties from near- and mid-infrared spectra at the field-scale. Soil and Tillage Research, 215(January)
- Borchers N, Hannam J & Pawlett M. (2022). Microbial community composition of translocated ancient woodland soil: a case study. Restoration Ecology, 30(7)
- Breure TS, Haefele SM, Hannam JA, Corstanje R, Webster R, .... (2022). A loss function to evaluate agricultural decision-making under uncertainty: a case study of soil spectroscopy. Precision Agriculture, 23(4)
- Brevik EC, Hannam J, Krzic M, Muggler C & Uchida Y. (2022). The importance of soil education to connectivity as a dimension of soil security. Soil Security, 7(June)
- Chen S, Arrouays D, Leatitia Mulder V, Poggio L, Minasny B, .... (2022). Digital mapping of GlobalSoilMap soil properties at a broad scale: A review. Geoderma, 409(March)
- Brevik EC, Krzic M, Muggler C, Field D, Hannam J, .... (2022). Soil science education: A multinational look at current perspectives. Natural Sciences Education, 51(1)
- Pawlett M, Hannam JA & Knox JW. (2021). Redefining soil health. Microbiology, 167(1)
- Rivington M, King R, Duckett D, Iannetta P, Benton TG, .... (2021). UK food and nutrition security during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic. Nutrition Bulletin, 46(1)
- Breure TS, Milne AE, Webster R, Haefele SM, Hannam JA, .... (2021). Predicting the growth of lettuce from soil infrared reflectance spectra: the potential for crop management. Precision Agriculture, 22(1)
- Storr T, Simmons RW & Hannam JA. (2021). Using frost‐sensitive cover crops for timely nitrogen mineralization and soil moisture management. Soil Use and Management, 37(3)
- Gabarron-Galeote MA, Hannam JA, Mayr T & Jarvis PJ. (2019). BEETSOIL: a decision support tool for forecasting the impact of soil conditions on sugar beet harvest. Soil and Tillage Research, 191
- Storr T, Simmons RW & Hannam JA. (2019). A UK survey of the use and management of cover crops. Annals of Applied Biology, 174(2)
- Hallett SH, Sakrabani R, Keay CA & Hannam JA. (2017). Developments in land information systems: examples demonstrating land resource management capabilities and options. Soil Use and Management, 33(4)
- Preetz H, Igel J, Hannam JA & Stadler S. (2017). Relationship between magnetic properties and reddening of tropical soils as indicators of weathering. Geoderma, 303
- Taalab K, Corstanje R, Zawadzka J, Mayr T, Whelan MJ, .... (2015). On the application of Bayesian Networks in Digital Soil Mapping. Geoderma, 259-260
- Simo I, Schulte RPO, Corstanje R, Hannam JA & Creamer RE. (2015). Validating digital soil maps using soil taxonomic distance: A case study of Ireland. Geoderma Regional, 5
- KEAY CA, JONES RJA, HANNAM JA & BARRIE IA. (2014). The implications of a changing climate on agricultural land classification in England and Wales. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 152(1)
- Cavazzi S, Corstanje R, Mayr T, Hannam J & Fealy R. (2013). Are fine resolution digital elevation models always the best choice in digital soil mapping?. Geoderma, 195-196
- Hollis JM, Hannam J & Bellamy PH. (2012). Empirically‐derived pedotransfer functions for predicting bulk density in European soils. European Journal of Soil Science, 63(1)
- Boyle JF, Dearing JA, Blundell A & Hannam JA. (2010). Testing competing hypotheses for soil magnetic susceptibility using a new chemical kinetic model. Geology, 38(12)
- Blundell A, Dearing JA, Boyle JF & Hannam JA. (2009). Controlling factors for the spatial variability of soil magnetic susceptibility across England and Wales. Earth-Science Reviews, 95(3-4)
- Blundell A, Hannam JA, Dearing JA & Boyle JF. (2009). Detecting atmospheric pollution in surface soils using magnetic measurements: A reappraisal using an England and Wales database. Environmental Pollution, 157(10)
- Hannam JA & Dearing JA. (2008). Mapping soil magnetic properties in Bosnia and Herzegovina for landmine clearance operations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 274(3-4)
- Hannam J. (2006). Book Review: Soil management: problems and solutions. The Holocene, 16(3)
- Spassov S, Egli R, Heller F, Nourgaliev DK & Hannam J. (2004). Magnetic quantification of urban pollution sources in atmospheric particulate matter. Geophysical Journal International, 159(2)
- Harvey AM, Foster G, Hannam J & Mather AE. (2003). The Tabernas alluvial fan and lake system, southeast Spain: applications of mineral magnetic and pedogenic iron oxide analyses towards clarifying the Quaternary sediment sequences. Geomorphology, 50(1-3)
- Sagnotti L, Rochette P, Jackson M, Vadeboin F, Dinarès-Turell J, .... (2003). Inter-laboratory calibration of low-field magnetic and anhysteretic susceptibility measurements. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 138(1)
- Dearing JA, Hannam JA, Anderson AS & Wellington EMH. (2001). Magnetic, geochemical and DNA properties of highly magnetic soils in England. Geophysical Journal International, 144(1)
- Simon H. Bottrell (1), Jacqueline A . (1998). Diagenesis and Remobilization of Carbon and Sulfur in Mid-Pleistocene Organic-Rich Freshwater Sediment. SEPM Journal of Sedimentary Research, Vol. 68 (1998),(1)
- Bottrell SH, Hannam JA, Andrews JE & Maher BA. (1998). Diagenesis and remobilization of carbon and sulfur in mid-Pleistocene organic-rich freshwater sediment. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 68(1)
Conference Papers
- Breure T, Haefele SM, Webster R, Hannam JA, Corstanje R, .... (2021). Agricultural decision-making under uncertainty: a loss function on the kriging variance from soil properties predicted by infrared and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
- Storr T, Simmons RW & Hannam JA. (2018). Soil water and available nitrogen during cover crop growth
- Storr T, Simmons RW & Hannam JA. (2017). Do cover crops give short term benefits for soil health?
- Storr T, Simmons R & Hannam J. (2017). The use of cover crops in the UK: a survey
- Hannam JA, Van Dam RL & Harmon RS. (2009). A synthesis of current knowledge and future directions for soil magnetism research
- Hannam JA, Van Dam RL & Harmon RS. (2009). Soil magnetism research: State of the art and future directions
- Hannam JA, Van Dam RL & Harmon RS. (2009). Soil Magnetism Research: State of the Art and Future Directions
- Hannam JA & Dearing JA. (2006). Modeling soil magnetic susceptibility and frequency-dependent susceptibility to aid landmine clearance.
- Bateman MD, Hannam J & Livingstone I. (1999). Late Quaternary dunes at Twigmoor Woods, Lincolnshire, UK: A preliminary investigation
Books
- Brevik EC, Field D, Hannam J, Krzic M, Horn R, .... (2023). Degrees Pursued by Students in Different Countries to Train for Careers in Soil Science In Cultural Understanding of Soils. Springer International Publishing.
- Simó I, Corstanje R, Fealy R, Hallett S, Hannam J, .... (2014). Mapping soils in Ireland In Arrouays , D , McKenzie , N , Hempel , ... (eds), GlobalSoilMap. CRC Press.
- Keay CA & Hannam JA. (2013). Soil Data from the United Kingdom (England and Wales) In Weynands M, Montanarella L & Toth G (eds), European HYdropedological Data Inventory (EU-HYDI) (JRC 81129, Report EUR 26053 EN). European Union.
- Hannam JA, Hollis JM & Jones RJA. (2007). SPADE2: The soil profile analytical database for Europe In Status and prospect of soil information in south-eastern Europe: soil databases, projects and applications. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
