Dr Andrew Gill

Areas of expertise

• Carbon, Climate and Risk
• Energy and the Environment
• Environmental Impacts
• Renewable Energy

Background

Dr Andrew Gill is a Senior Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology; 20+ years international experience in fish and fisheries ecology and research into animal responses to environmental changes and ecological impacts from human activity.

Andrew started his career in 1989 as a NERC funded Research Assistant at Leicester University. Following his PhD, he worked for three years with a coral reef conservation organisation on field projects mapping reefs communities and providing scientific advice and support for the development of marine protected areas in Belize and the Philippines. On returning to the UK in 1996, Andrew took up a temporary lectureship in Fish and Fisheries Biology at Liverpool University and in 1999 set up a new postgraduate MSc course in Restoration Ecology and was appointed Course Director. In late 2003, Andrew moved to Cranfield to take up the position of Lecturer in applied aspects of aquatic ecology. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology in 2010. 

He is currently the co-Chair of the ICES working group on Marine Benthal and Renewable Energy Developments, vice-Chair of the River Restoration Centre Board of Directors, a Council Member of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and Chair of the Small Grants Committee, and serves on several international scientific committees.

Andrew is a member of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, a member and Scientific Advisor to the Shark Trust, a member of British Ecological Society, a member of the Marine Biological Association UK and an previous MBA Visiting Fellow. He was the Marine and Aquatic Editor for the international journal Biological Conservation 2005-2010 and subsequently served on the Editorial Board.

Current activities

• Pioneering field-based experimental research into coastal environmental impacts of offshore renewable energy developments - particularly interactions with electromagnetic and noise sensitive species.
• Experimental studies of behavioural response of receptor animals (principally fish)to electromagnetic fields and underwater noise using acoustic tracking methods.
• Leading research projects on assessing aquatic species movement in relation to barriers.
• Developing spatial ecology analysis to determine emergent properties from individual animal behaviour.
• Ecological impact assessment (EcIA) of aquatic and coastal developments particularly related to offshore/marine renewable energy.
• Developing and applying in situ monitoring methods to determine ecologically relevant changes within aquatic ecosystems.
• Assessing risk and uncertainty frameworks and methods for knowledge transfer to the marine renewable energy sector.

Clients

• Defra
• Collaborative Offshore Wind Research into the Environment (COWRIE)/Crown Estate
• Cefas
• NERC
• EPSRC  
• University of Rhode Island
• USA Electric Power Research Institute,
• USA Department of Energy,
• USA Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
• British Ecological Society
• Fisheries Society of the British Isles
• Environment Agency
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• Natural England
• Countryside Council for Wales
• British Waterways
• Seafish
• Marine Management Organisation
• ADAS
• Directorate General VIII, European Union
• Belizean Government
• Earthwatch
• Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation
• Operation Wallacea
• Natural History Museum.

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books