Gill Ainsworth
PhD student
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Contact details Phone: (08) 8946 7762 |
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SupervisorsPrimary: Heather AslinAssociate:Stephen GarnettDr. Mike Weston, Lecturer, Deakin University Gill’s research interests include the bonds between humans and nature and the protection of threatened species. Gill spent seven years in Asia, USA, Europe and Australia designing and managing research projects for the pharmaceutical market research industry. She has been involved in Australian environmental conservation for the last ten years including five years in the Australian community sector working as fundraiser and organisational manager for environmental and professional writing groups and three years as Research Associate for the SER Livelihoods and Policy theme. Gill is an indexer, specialising in the analysis of academic texts and has studied several Asian and European languages.
Research summarySocial Values of Australian Threatened Birds Wildlife and nature can provide a significant contribution to the spirit, imagination and well-being of Australians through socio-psychological values. These can be recreational; consumptive (eg. hunting) and non-consumptive (watching and enjoying in the wild or through various media); intellectual and scientific (including educational); aesthetic, artistic and cultural; and religious and symbolic. These values have both a quantitative aspect that can be measured (eg. wildlife tourism) and a qualitative aspect that cannot (eg beauty). Of the approximately 1200 known bird species in Australia over 100 species and subspecies are currently identified as threatened and substantial funds are spent keeping them from becoming extinct.
The “Social Values of Australian Threatened Birds” research will examine relevant social values to identify and measure the importance or worth placed by people and society on threatened species of birds in Australia and through a series of case studies will identify the most effective conservation messages for their preservation. This PhD is associated with the ARC Linkage project: Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of Australian threatened bird conservation Read Gill's Research Proposal. Download Gill’s research summary (4 pages, 210kb ) Visit Gill’s blog Mischievous Magpie
Volunteers sought to collect social values data! This stage of the research is now complete. I would like to sincerely thank the following people who volunteered their time, expertise and knowledge of Australian birds in a variety of ways to help collect social values data. A special thank you goes to Clive and Alan who persevered with some of the largest data collection tasks:
2010: Highly Commended, The Nature Conservancy Applied Conservation Award 2011: People's Choice Award, CDU 3 Minute Thesis Competition, $500: Social Values of Australian Threatened Birds Watch Gill's presentation; View Gill's powerpoint
Australasian Wildlife Management Society, Torquay, Victoria (1-3 Dec 2010) RIMBA 2, CDU-UKM-UNIMAS Regional symposium and workshop on sustainable natural resource management, Langkawi, Malaysia (12-14 Oct 2010). National Camel Science Conference, Desert Knowledge CRC, Canberra. (Dec 2008).
Ainsworth, G.B. and Garnett, S.T. 2009. RIMBA: Sustainable forest livelihoods in Malaysia and Australia. LESTARI: UKM, Malaysia. Book chapters In Press: Ainsworth, G.B., Garnett, S.T. and Aslin, H.J. 2010. The Values of Wildlife Embodied in Protected Areas. In RIMBA 2. LESTARI: UKM. Malaysia. Published: Garnett, S.T. and Ainsworth, G.B. 2009. Joint management and multiple use in a climate change era. In RIMBA: Sustainable forest livelihoods in Malaysia and Australia, (eds Ainsworth, G.B. and Garnett, S.T.) LESTARI: UKM, Malaysia p101-106. In prep: Garnett, S.T. and Ainsworth, G.B. Better red than dead: Incorporating IUCN Criteria into Northern Territory legislation to protect threatened species. Published: Garnett, S.T., Williams, G., Ainsworth, G.B., O’Donnell, M. 2010. Who owns feral camels? Implications for managers of land and resources in central Australia. Special Issue of The Rangelands Journal. 32(1):87-93 Carey R., O’Donnell M., Ainsworth G., Garnett S., Haritos H. and Williams G. 2008. Review of legislation and regulations relating to feral camel management, DKCRC Research Report 50. Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs. View pdf>> Carey R., O’Donnell M., Ainsworth G., Garnett S., Haritos H., Williams G., Edwards G.P., McGregor M. and Zeng B. 2008. Review of legislation and regulations relating to feral camel management (summary), Chapter 6 in Cross-jurisdictional management of feral camels to protect NRM and cultural values, Eds. GP Edwards, M McGregor, B Zeng, P Vaarzon-Morel and WK Saalfeld, DKCRC Report 47. Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs. View pdf>> Stacey, N., L. Petheram, & G. Ainsworth. 2008. NAILSMA/TS - CRC – Dugong and marine turtle project partner feedback survey report, School for Environmental Research, CDU, 40pps. Garnett, S.T, Carey R. and Ainsworth, G. 2007. Analysis of Northern Territory Legislation for the Protection of Threatened Species. Report to WWF-Australia. School for Environmental Research, CDU, 57pps. Ainsworth, G.B., Aslin, H.J., Garnett, S.T. and Weston, M. 2010. Coins to Conservation: How do the Values of Avifauna to Australian Society Affect Conservation Outcomes? Presented to ESA 2010 Annual Conference, Canberra, 6-10 Dec. View ppt Ainsworth, G.B., Aslin, H.J., Garnett, S.T. and Weston, M. 2010. Twitching for Values in the Human Domain: How do Australians Value Native Birds? Presented to AWMS conference, Torquay, 1-3 Dec. View ppt Ainsworth, G.B., Garnett, S.T. and Aslin, H.J. 2010. The values of wildlife embodied in protected areas. Presented to RIMBA 2, the CDU-UKM-UNIMAS Regional Symposium and Workshop on Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Malaysia 12-14 Oct.View pdf Ainsworth, G.B. 2010. Social Values of Australian Threatened Birds. Presented to the SSPR Postgrad Forum, CDU 18 June. View pdf Ainsworth, G.B. 2010. Social Values of Australian Threatened Birds. Presented to the School for Environmental Research, CDU 25 May. Garnett, S.T. and Ainsworth, G.B. 2009. Joint management and multiple use in a climate change era. Presented to the CDU-UKM-UNIMAS Regional Symposium and Workshop on Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Bali 23-24 April. Ainsworth, G.B. 2008. Review of legislation and regulations relating to feral camel management. Presented to the Camel Science Conference, Desert Knowledge CRC, Canberra 8 Dec. O’Donnell M., Ainsworth G., Garnett S. 2008. Feral Camels in Australia: A Legislative Review. Presented to SER Seminar Series, CDU 11 April.
Australasian Wildlife Management Society, member Birds Australia, member. IUCN Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas, member Past Affiliations Environment Centre NT, Committee Member (2003 – 2005) Environmental Defenders Office NT, Committee Treasurer and Normal Member (2003 - 2010). NT Writers’ Centre Board Member (2005 – 2006) The Wilderness Society Victoria Board Member (2000 – 2002)
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