Gillian Bowser focuses on ecological indicators of climate change and nature-based solutions using the frameworks of the United Nations Climate Change Convention. Her work focuses on the application of ecological indicators, such as pollinator insects and biodiversity loss associated with changing climate conditions. She also partners with a large-scale Mountain Livelihoods project led by University of Innsbruck that explores local livelihoods, biodiversity loss and mountain systems.

She places special emphasis on education for sustainable development of holistic and multicultural understanding of the human condition worldwide. Her current work includes authorship on the U.S. National Climate Assessment and serving as a lead coordinating author on the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook report.

Bowser has worked as a wildlife biologist and ecologist for the U.S. National Park Service in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Joshua Tree and Wrangell St. Elias, and was a Science and Diplomacy Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011.  She was also elected as a senior AAAS Fellow in 2023 and serves on the executive committee for the International Union of Biological Societies working with the U.S. National Academies of Science.

Bowser earned her B.S. from Northwestern University, her M.S. from the University of Vermont, and her Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.