Dr Gemma Beale is the Senior National Research Officer at the AMWU. Her PhD was a worker-led study of the closure of the Australian automotive manufacturing industry with a particular focus on job quality. She is especially interested in applying lessons from the automotive closure to the emerging challenge of the net zero transition in manufacturing and energy-intensive industries.

Prior to this role she was the SA/NT Director of the McKell Institute where she worked closely with unions on the importance of workforce planning, WHS and wage justice. She is also the Chair of contemporary arts company Vitalstatistix at the Waterside Workers Hall, Port Adelaide.