Gillian Der 謝美華 is an independent researcher and writer residing between Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsliel-Wautulth territory and St’àt’imc territory. Gillian’s work focuses on how environmental hazards and our changed climate intersect with social differences with a particular interest in rural communities. In 2025, Gillian received her MA in Geography from UBC for her work on living with wildfire in the Upper Bridge River Valley. She used arts-based and community engaged methods to gather insight into the affective and qualitative experiences of community members post fire. In the summer of 2025, she returned the knowledge to her community through a three day arts & research festival. In addition to her written thesis, she created Hold Over Fires, an immersive and interactive art exhibition with Alternatives Gallery where she gathered disabled and non-disabled communities in Vancouver to contemplate diverse forms of grief including climate grief in an urban context.
Her academic writing can be found in Everyday Life: International Journal of Public Culture, Art & Design, NiCHE – Network in Canadian History & Environment, and FireSeason IV. in 2025, she was shortlisted for the Malahat Review’s Open Awards in Non-fiction for her piece “Third Child”. She currently holds the posting of Citizen Poet for the City of Vancouver in partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Belzberg Library.
Gillian is a descendant of Head Tax Payers and CPR builders on her father’s side and white British settlers on her mother’s. She holds these identities in tension with one another often finding herself in the fruitful void of the inbetween.