Jane Francis is Director of the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge. A geologist by training from the University of Southampton (B.Sc and PhD), she was a NERC Postdoctoral Fellow in London, palaeobotanist at the British Antarctic Survey, Australian Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds, where she was also Dean of the Faculty of Environment.

Her research interests include ancient climates and fossil plants from the Arctic and Antarctica, used to decipher ancient polar climates of the past. She was awarded the Polar Medal for her contribution to British polar research and was appointed as Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to UK polar science and diplomacy.