{{short description|Environmental geographer}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Jenny Pickerill | alma_mater = Newcastle University <br> University of Edinburgh | workplaces = Lancaster University <br> University of Edinburgh <br> Curtin University of Technology <br> University of Leicester <br> University of Sheffield | thesis_title = Weaving a green web? Environmental activists' use of computer mediated communication in Britain | thesis_year = 2000 | thesis_url = https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203183250/chapters/10.4324/9780203183250-16 | image = Jenny Pickerill 2019.jpg }} '''Jenny Pickerill''' (born 23 November 1973) is a Professor of Environmental Geography at the University of Sheffield and Vice President of Research and Higher Education at the Royal Geographical Society. Her work explores alternatives to capitalism that generate environmental and social justice.
== Early life and education == Pickerill studied geography at the Newcastle University.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/staff/jenny_pickerill/about#tab01 |title=Jenny Pickerill - Jenny Pickerill - Staff - Geography - The University of Sheffield |author=University of Sheffield |website=www.sheffield.ac.uk |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref> She moved to Scotland for her graduate studies, where she specialised in geographic information systems at the University of Edinburgh.<ref name=":0" /> She returned to Newcastle for her doctoral degree, where she earned her PhD in geography in 2000.<ref name=":0" /> During her PhD, Pickerill worked briefly at Lancaster University where she worked on a project with Bronislaw Szerszynski.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}
== Research and career == Pickerill started her independent research career at Curtin University in Perth.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/jenny-pickerill/ |title=Dr Jenny Pickerill — Oxford Internet Institute |website=www.oii.ox.ac.uk |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref> Here she studied the internet activism of Australian environmentalists.<ref name=":1" /> Pickerill was made a lecturer in human geography at the University of Leicester in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/news/2000-2009/2007/05/npfolder.2007-05-30.8326962657/nparticle.2007-05-30.6590521698/index.html |title=University of Leicester - Dr Jenny Pickerill, Lecturer in Human Geography |website=University of Leicester |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref> She spent 2008 as a visiting fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.<ref name=":1" /> She moved to the University of Sheffield in 2014. Pickerill works on environmental geography, in particular, how people use and value the environment.<ref name=":0" /> This aspect of her work has involved the use of social science, investigating the complicated relationships between humans and the environment. Pickerill has explored grassroots initiatives that tackle environmental challenges.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/geography-research/dir-record/research-projects/618/autonomous-geographies-activism-and-everyday-life-in-the-city |title=Autonomous Geographies: Activism and Everyday Life in the City |author=Environment at University of Leeds |website=environment.leeds.ac.uk |language=en |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref> She has studied how environmental activists share their understanding of the environment using technology and how they frame their message.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |date=2008-02-01 |title=From wilderness to WildCountry: the power of language in environmental campaigns in Australia |journal=Environmental Politics |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=95–104 |doi=10.1080/09644010701811681 |issn=0964-4016 |hdl=2381/4674 |s2cid=145734276 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/10080911 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> She is also interested in environmental activists who choose to protect one aspect of the environment whilst ignoring another.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |date=2009 |title=Finding common ground? Spaces of dialogue and the negotiation of Indigenous interests in environmental campaigns in Australia |journal=Geoforum |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=66–79 |doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2008.06.009 |issn=0016-7185 |hdl=2381/4051 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/10081775 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Her work recognises that environmental issues often overlap with other aspects of inequality; including racism, colonialism and neo-liberalism. Often activist movements incorporate populations of a range of social categories, and Pickerill has looked at its role in the Occupy movement, anti-war movement and the environmental movement in Australia.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation|title=Dr Jenny Pickerill - Anti-War Activism: New Media and Protest in the Information Age |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL12t9nj9ak |language=en |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref>
Pickerill has studied the impact of experimental solutions on environmental challenges and role of students in redesigning their future. This has included ways to self-build safe, environmentally friendly housing.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Eco-Homes : People, Place and Politics |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |date=2016 |publisher=Zed Books |isbn=9781780325309 |oclc=953705741}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |date=2017 |title=Critically Interrogating Eco-Homes |journal=International Journal of Urban and Regional Research |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=353–365 |doi=10.1111/1468-2427.12453 |issn=0309-1317 |doi-access=free}}</ref> She has revealed that women are not well represented in eco-building communities.<ref name=":2" /> She is currently investigating the potential for eco-communities in environmentally friendly, sustainable cities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/grantees/professor-jenny-pickerill/ |title=Professor Jenny Pickerill – Urban Studies Foundation |website=urbanstudiesfoundation.org |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://peacenews.info/node/7902/learning-eco-villages |title=Learning from eco-villages {{!}} Peace News |website=peacenews.info |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref>
== Selected publications == * {{Cite book |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |title=Eco-Communities: Surviving Well Together |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2025}} * {{Cite journal |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |title=Notes towards autonomous geographies: creation, resistance and self-management as survival tactics |date=2006 |journal=Progress in Human Geography |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=730–746 |doi=10.1177/0309132506071516 |hdl=2381/499 |s2cid=7080489 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/10078313 |hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription }} * {{Cite journal |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |title=Everyday activism and transitions towards post‐capitalist worlds |date=2010 |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |volume=35|issue=4|pages=475–490|doi=10.1111/j.1475-5661.2010.00396.x}} * {{Cite book |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |title=Cyberprotest: Environmental activism online |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780719063947}} * {{Cite book |last=Pickerill |first=Jenny |title=Eco-Homes: People, Place and Politics (Just Sustainabilities) |publisher=Zed Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-1780325309}}
Alongside her academic publications, Pickerill has written for ''The Conversation''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/profiles/jenny-pickerill-145117 |title=Jenny Pickerill |website=The Conversation |date=14 November 2014 |language=en |access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickerill, Jenny}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:British environmental scientists Category:Alumni of Newcastle University Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Academics of the University of Sheffield Category:Academic staff of Curtin University Category:Academics of the University of Leicester