Biography
Pam Kennedy is a Senior Expert at the Institute for Environment and Sustainability at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in northern Italy. Pam received her BSc from the University of Wales in 1981, an MSc in Land Resource Management from Cranfield University’s School of Agriculture Food and Environment in 1983 and a PhD in Geography from the University of Reading in 1989. Throughout her studies, Pam has spent several periods in Africa, including carrying out research at the Hydrological Research Institute in Pretoria, working for the World Bank in The Gambia, Senegal and Mali as part of a project to assess woody biomass using field observations and Earth observation data and organising field campaigns in Tunisia where she carried out the practical work for her PhD.
Following a two-year post-doctoral study she joined the staff of the JRC in 1993, where her research focused on the application of satellite and air-borne data systems to map and observe the status and dynamics of agricultural and forestry ecosystems. Pam has been a member of the Team of Specialists of the UN-Food and Agriculture Organisation/Economic Commission for Europe where she lead a group on the application of new technologies in forestry. In 2004-2005, Pam was seconded to the European Environment Agency (EEA), in Copenhagen, with the specific purpose of fostering collaboration between the JRC and the EEA. Since 2006, she has had a more strategic role in the Institute for Environment and Sustainability in advising and co-ordinating scientific programmes, policy orientations and strategic partnerships related to the wider portfolio of environmental and agricultural sustainability.