biology

Jacqueline McGlade

Jacqueline McGlade is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jacqueline McGlade rather than just read about it. In short: Jacqueline Myriam McGlade (born May 30, 1955) is a British-born Canadian marine biologist and environmental informatics professor. Her research concerns the spatial and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystems, climate change and scenario development.

Key takeaways

Jacqueline McGlade belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jacqueline McGlade to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jacqueline McGlade from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jacqueline Myriam McGlade (born May 30, 1955) is a British-born Canadian marine biologist and environmental informatics professor. Her research concerns the spatial and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystems, climate change and scenario development. She is currently professor of resilience and sustainable development at the University College London Institute for Global Prosperity and Faculty of Engineering, UK, and professor at Strathmore University in the Institute for Public Policy and Governance, Kenya. She was executive director of the European Environment Agency from 2003 to 2013, where she was on leave from her post as professor of environmental informatics at University College London. Between 2014 and 2017 she was chief scientist and director of the Science Division of the United Nations Environment Programme based in Nairobi. From 2017 to 2019 she was professor and director of the Sekenani Research Centre of the Maasai Mara University, Kenya.

Education Professor McGlade completed her BSc in Marine Biology, Biochemistry and Soil Science at Bangor University (then known as the University College of North Wales), UK, in 1977. She obtained her PhD degree in 1980 on aquatic sciences and zoology from the University of Guelph in Canada. In 1987, she obtained a MA degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Honorary titles 2013 honorary fellow, Institution of Environmental Sciences 2004 honorary doctorate, University of Kent, U.K. 2003 honorary fellow, University of Wales, U.K. 1998 honorary professor, University of Warwick, U.K.

Research and science policy

Theoretical ecology, spatial dynamics, ecosystems and science-policy McGlade’s PhD research on the mathematical and statistical analysis of the phenotypic and genotypic variability showed the critical importance of spatial dynamics in determining evolutionary divergence and ecological sustainability in freshwater and marine fish populations. This work led to her establishing the first population dynamics and genetics laboratory and developing spatial Lotka-Volterra models, ecological networks and artificial intelligence to apply earth observations in biological oceanography, fisheries and fleet deployment in Fisheries and Oceans Canada at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the USA) and the intelligence systems laboratory at Xerox PARC. From 1987-1990, Professor McGlade continued her research in systematics, ichthyology, population dynamics and coastal issues in Cambridge as the Adrian Fellow at Darwin College, at the International Federation of Institutes of Advanced Study in the Netherlands, and Cranfield Institute in the UK. In 1988 Professor McGlade was appointed as a Director at KFA (now FZ) Jülich in Germany and led research on theoretical ecology. In 1992 she became Professor in Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick and from 2000 was NERC Professorial Fellow at University College London. She and her research teams developed knowledge about spatial dynamical systems (differential equations, coupled-map lattices, cellular automata and individual based models) to study the behaviour of a wide range of ecosystems. The ideas and theories developed led to significant insights into the role of evolutionarily stable attractors, invasion exponents and phenotype dynamics in a wide range of ecosystems, including the African savannah, marine communities, annual and perennial plants and forests and red grouse. From 1998-2000, she was Director of NERC's Center for Coastal and Marine Science. She also served as a Board Member of the Environment Agency England and Wales and as a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering. In 2013 she was appointed as Chief Scientist of UNEP where she has researched the science policy interface, integrated global environmental assessment, near-real time environmental monitoring systems and the use of geospatial and big data in statistics for sustainable development.

European Environment Agency Professor McGlade was appointed as executive director to the European Environment Agency from 2003 to 2013. At the EEA, she introduced SEIS, the Shared Environmental Information System for national reporting and indicator development and brought together key aspects of national and international research outputs, including those from the Copernicus earth observation programme. Under her leadership, the Agency reinforced its capability to produce integrated environmental assessments, analyse the state of Europe’s environment as a whole, and provide reliable projections. Professor McGlade worked to strengthen the link between science and policy. She pointed at the magnitude of climate change and urged policymakers to start developing and applying adaptation measures. McGlade was a firm advocate of informing and involving the public in all aspects of the environment. To this end, she strove to strengthen the information and feedback channels between researchers, public and policymakers, making environmental information understandable and accessible through technological media.

United Nations Environment Programme In 2013, McGlade joined UNEP at its headquarters in Nairobi and in 2014 became chief scientist and director of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment. After joining she continued the development of UNEP Live, an open cross-lingual platform for global exchange of environmental information, and led UNEP's assessment and statistical activities including the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals, Global Environmental Outlook, Emission Gap Report and Frontiers: Emerging issues of global importance.

Academic prizes and scholarships Global Citizen Award, Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association, 2013 Masaryk Gold Medal, University of Brno (Czech Republic), 2005 Minerva Prize (Germany), 1992 Member of Honour, International Institute for Dynamical Systems (Romania), 1991 Jubileum Award, Chalmers Technical University (Sweden), 1991 Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation Award in Genetics (USA), 1980 Best Research Paper, American Fisheries Society (USA), 1979 Commonwealth Scholarship (Canada), 1977–80 Rotary International Graduate Scholarship (Indonesia), 1977

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jacqueline McGlade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jacqueline McGlade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jacqueline McGlade before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jacqueline McGlade ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jacqueline McGlade

In research: Jacqueline McGlade appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jacqueline McGlade in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jacqueline McGlade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1955 births, Academics of University College London, Academics of the University of Warwick, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jacqueline McGlade outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jacqueline McGlade in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jacqueline McGlade means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jacqueline McGlade out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jacqueline McGlade in simple terms?

Why does Jacqueline McGlade matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jacqueline McGlade?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jacqueline McGlade.