Joe is Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).
Prior to this he was Professor of Environment and Society and head of geography at the Open University. His academic work has focused on environmental communication, history, policy and politics. Joe has put together numerous seminars for environment specialists and senior media decision-makers, mostly from the BBC, since the mid-1990s. Joe was co-founder of the Mediating Change group which supports and reflects upon new cultural work on climate change, and has included the commissioning of a body of artist’s residencies.
Joe holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences and a PhD in Geography from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is also a Director of Smith of Derby Ltd., a 160-year-old public clock making company that continues to design and make new commissions all over the world, and looks after 4500 sites across the UK.
