[1][2] Jackson studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University from 1970 to 1973, where he received his PPE.
After spending 4 years in the civil service, he received his MA in Systems in Management at the Lancaster University in 1978.
He has delivered plenary addresses at numerous international conferences, and has undertaken many consultancy engagements with outside organisations, both commercial and non-profit.
He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to higher education and business.
[5] In 2017 he received the Beale Medal of the UK Operational Research Society for ‘an outstanding lifetime achievement in the philosophy, methodology or practice of OR’.