Andy Nelson

Andy Nelson is a Full Professor in Spatial Agriculture and Food Security at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, Netherlands. He leads the Department of Natural Resources and focuses on Earth observation and spatial analysis for global food security and sustainable resource management.

• PhD in Geography, University of Leeds
• MSc in Geographical Information Systems, University of Leicester
• BSc in Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham

His research addresses critical questions in food production, risk mitigation, and food transport network resilience. He has developed open-access datasets like global travel time maps and urban-rural continuum models, with publications in Nature, Science, and policy reports for the World Bank and FAO.

Recent work includes machine learning for pest monitoring, multi-sensor crop mapping, and climate stress modeling in Ethiopia and the Philippines. He co-supervises MSc and PhD students, emphasizing international collaboration.

• 2023 GEO Team Impact Award
• 2024/2025 ITC PhD Publication Awards

As Senior Editor at Food Security and coordinator of projects like GEOGLAM and 4TU Centre for Resilience Engineering, Nelson bridges academia, policy, and technology to address global food system challenges.