Ainoa was awarded a BSc in Biology by the University of Oviedo and an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation by Edinburgh Napier University, which involved fieldwork with large ungulates in South Africa. She joined the entomological team at NRS in 2019 after completing a PhD with The University of the Highlands and Islands and The James Hutton Institute. Her project looked at the response of arthropod assemblages to the restoration of formerly afforested blanket bog in the Scottish Highlands. Prior to joining Forest Research her work involved a hands-on approach to habitat restoration and species conservation. She has worked for the Scottish Wildlife Trust in osprey conservation and migration tracking, as well as a reserve management and delivering of public events.  She also worked in the trapping and tracking of northern flying squirrel populations in the USA, path building and restoration, habitat management for invasive non-native species and subsequent habitat restoration. In Germany, she participated in the reintroduction of European mink via trapping and radio-tracking.

Ainoa’s current work at Forest Research involves:

• Data analysis and interpretation of soil ecological data
• Writing scientific and technical publications as well as research proposals on forest soil ecology.
• Assisting with the development of new analytical methods for researching the ecology of forest soils and links to key forest soil functions.
• Undertaking field and lab work to collect and process soil and soil invertebrate samples, and taxonomic and morphological identification of soil invertebrate specimens.