Gillian Marshall

Gillian teaches across a range of modules in our Bioveterinary Science and BVMS foundation degrees and degree programmes. Her current role involves creating, delivering and assessing innovative science materials. Her goal is to encourage learners from a wide range of backgrounds to feel prepared to take on the challenges of a career in animal science, and fill in any gaps in prior education that might have presented an obstacle to them following their true goals.

Gillian completed her MSc in Applied Animal Science in 2006 at Hartpury College, with the University of the West of England. In the second year of this qualification, she collaborated with specialists from London Zoo and Barnes Wetland Centre in London to complete a research project entitled ‘Factors affecting the distribution of sightings of a translocated population of grass snakes (Natrix natrix) at the London Wetland Centre.’ and she has continued to collaborate with them to expand on the ecological survey data collected.

Gillian has been on several survey expeditions, including to the tropical dry forests of the Uzumbara Mountains in Tanzania, where she was part of a group that surveyed the flora and fauna to determine the extent of the damage caused by local deforestation. She was part of a team that discovered a new species of toad in this area, which remains critically endangered.

Following completion of her BSc in Zoology at Bristol University, Gillian participated in another research expedition, organised by Greenforce, to the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. Here, she had extensive experience in line transects, bird and bat mist netting, point count recording, tree climbing and vegetation plotting, and worked with the team to set up bat netting projects.

Gilian continues to combine her interest in ecology and conservation with applied animal science by mentoring learners in a wide variety of research. She is also a qualified marine mammal medic with BDMLR.