Dr Gill Ainsworth is a social scientist working in the EqualSea Lab, CRETUS at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Northwest Spain. She is a member of an interdisciplinary team, investigating the importance of non-monetary values in relation to transformations towards sustainability in the marine environment as part of the AtlantECO, Ciencias Marinas, NETTAG+ and REDUCE projects.
Prior to this, Gill worked at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Edinburgh, primarily on a NERC and Defra-funded Marine Ecosystems Research Programme project exploring cultural values of marine ecosystem services. She is currently a CEH Fellow.
Gill is also an Honorary Research Fellow with the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) at Charles Darwin University in Australia where she graduated from her PhD studies in 2014. Subsequently, she worked with Australia's NSW Government on transformative travel and with the University of Aberdeen in Scotland to understand stakeholders' conflicting views on the management of ground-nesting birds.
Gill has worked in environmental conservation since 2001 with positions at The Wilderness Society Victoria, the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, the Environmental Defenders Office Northern Territory and RIEL, where she worked for three years as a Research Associate before embarking on her PhD.
Previously, she worked in the pharmaceutical market research industry with positions in Australia, Hong Kong, Spain, the UK and the USA. Her graduate studies (MA Hons Mandarin & Japanese) included a year studying in Xian, China at the time of the Tiananmen demonstrations.
Gill is a keen naturalist and has hands on experience of land management after living on a 23 acre bushland property near Darwin, Australia for 15 years. She developed Treehugger to turn her daily wildlife observations into a practical field guide for the local community. She is now based in rural Galicia where she continues to conduct various wildlife-related citizen science activities.
