Meet The Team
Professors Mark Macklin and Chris Thomas are research professors located at the University of Lincoln, UK where they direct the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, the first interdisciplinary research centre of its kind to focus on solving the most pressing environmental and societal issues emerging from water-related risks on human and ecosystem health in aquatic environments. Professor Pim Martens is located at Maastricht University, Netherlands where he is Professor of Planetary Health, and Dean of Maastricht University College, Campus Venlo.
Professor Mark Macklin is a Distinguished Professor of River Systems and Global Change and Founding Director of the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, University of Lincoln, UK. He is multi-award-winning physical geographer, including the 2018 Murchison award from the Royal Geographical Society, and holds adjunct professorships at Massey University, New Zealand, the Centre for the Inland, La Trobe University, Australia, and Fiji National University. Mark is an authority on long-term human-river environment interactions, flood-risk assessment, metal mining pollution and its impact on ecosystems. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles (Google Scholar: h-index 80 – 18,010 citations, February 2023) and his career total external income from all sources now exceeds £25m, including 18 awards from the UK NERC. He conducts his research worldwide with ongoing projects in Australia, India, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Romania, Sudan, Tanzania, UK, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
Professor Chris Thomas is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Lincoln, UK holding the Global Chair in Water and Planetary Health and co-Directing the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health. He also holds a Visiting Professorship at the University of Namibia. He is an expert in spatial ecology and geographic modelling of complex environmental systems, particularly applied to biodiversity and human health. He has 25 years’ experience leading international, interdisciplinary research, combining field campaigns with spatial analysis and simulation modelling, with over £17m total competitive research funding from UK Research Councils, US National Institutes of Health, EU and UK government, and with 79 peer-reviewed publications (Google scholar h-index 32 – 6,124 citations, February 2023). Chris has substantial leadership experience in major projects working with university and industry – as a university Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange and Innovation for 6 years he led several multi-million-dollar projects including an agri-tech innovation campus, a veterinary science industry hub and a new school for veterinary medicine. Thomas has worked in Europe, the Middle East and extensively across sub-Saharan Africa with partners in Universities, NGOs and Government in Africa, Europe and North America, with ongoing projects in the UK, Tanzania and Zambia.
Professor Pim Martens is a Professor at Maastricht University, Netherlands where he holds a chair in Planetary Health and is a member of the Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Planetary Health Committee. A mathematician, Professor Martens was an early and influential pioneer of research on climate change impacts on human health and is recognised as a global leader in sustainability science and education, especially in the context of Planetary Health. He has published 118 peer-reviewed research articles, 12 books and 99 invited (paper & keynote) presentations (Google Scholar: h-index 57 – 19,436 citations, February 2023) and has won competitive funding for some 40 research programmes, including from industry, UNEP, Dutch, UK, other governments and the EU.
