Rowan Jackson is a lecturer in Planetary Health and Food Systems at the Division of Global Agriculture and Food Systems in the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. His research spans climate, heritage and historical research in the North Atlantic islands (Greenland and Iceland), East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia), and the UK.
Environmental and Climate in the North Atlantic
Over the last decade, Rowan’s research had used environmental, historical, and archaeological records to understand how human societies have responded to environmental and climate stress. His research has primarily focused on interconnected social-ecological changes on island environments in the North Atlantic from the Viking Age (c. 793 – 1066) onwards, with a particular focus on Greenland and Iceland in the High and Late Medieval Periods (c. 870 – 1500 AD). Using multiple datasets to reconstruct these deep-time records, his research has also identified the role of historical data for understanding environmental baselines and human vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the present.
Climate Heritage
In recent years, Rowan’s research has expanded from history and archaeology to understanding the impacts of climate change on tangible and intangible cultural heritage. His work has spanned Greenland, Iceland, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Syria, with a focus on medium- and long-term impacts of climate on connections with place, traditions, systems of knowledge, and memory. To highlight the importance of environmental and cultural histories and to conserve it for future generations, Rowan actively works to promote international collaborations to support the protection and conservation of physical and intangible cultural heritage.
Information Flows and Cultural Perceptions of Climate
A further strand that Rowan has focused on in recent years is to analyse the historical and contemporary flow of information about local resources and climate information within social networks. His research has examined the perceptual limits of knowledge among historical case studies, including Iceland and Greenland, and the flow of climate information within pastoral communities in Kenya and Ethiopia. By tracking information flow, both in the past and present, it is possible to better understand the social and cultural mediation of knowledge and the assumptions that might be drawn about the efficacy and power of technologies and governance.