Michael Meadows (professor)

Michael Edward Meadows born 25 July 1955 in Liverpool) is a British-South African Emeritus Professor of physical geography at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Cape Town.

Professor Mike Meadows.

Early life and education

Michael Edward Meadows was born on 25 July 1955 in Liverpool, UK. He attended the University of Sussex between 1973 and 1976. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Biological Science, before obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge in 1979.

Career and research

After his PhD, Meadows joined Liverpool John Moores University (1979–1983) before moving to Rhodes University, South Africa, from 1983 until 1986, when he since joined the University of Cape Town and became a Professor in 2003. Since 2019, he has been an Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town. He is a visiting Professor at Nanjing University, China, after being awarded a Fellowship by the Geographical Research and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2021. Meadows is a Distinguished Professor at East China Normal University, Jian Feng Professor at Zhejiang Normal University, visiting Professor at Beijing Normal University and Yulin University.

Meadows was the Head of the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences (2001-2017)and chair of the Science Faculty Ethics Committee and the University Sports Council. He has been the president of the International Geographical Union since 2021 and served before as Secretaries-General and Treasurer from 2010.

Meadows research focuses on physical geography, namely geomorphological and biogeographical effects of both natural and human-caused climate change, as well as Quaternary environmental change,  land degradation and desertification, and Palaeoecology. He has used a variety of proxies, including pollen, diatoms, biomarkers, stable isotope geochemistry, sedimentology, and evidence from lakes, wetlands, and, more atypically, accumulations of faecal and urine material deposited by Hyrax capensis, in his reconstructions of past southern African environments. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, Royal Geographical Society, Royal Society of South Africa, African Academy of Sciences, Society of South African Geographers and Southern African Quaternary Association. He is on the editorial board of Natural Hazards (Springer Nature).

Awards and honours

Meadows was elected a Fellow of the Society of South African Geographers and Southern African Quaternary Association in 2000, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2016, a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2015, a Fellow of the University of Cape Town since 2016, and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2018.