Audrey Gaughran

Audrey Gaughran has been chair of NRGI's Advisory council since June 2023 and executive director of SOMO (the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) since February 2021. At SOMO she is responsible for the organization's management and strategy. She is an expert on extractive industries, land use and human rights, and plays a leading role in SOMO’s work on the energy transition.  

Prior to SOMO, Gaughran worked for over three years as the Senior Director for Regional Programs at NRGI, where she oversaw governance programs and research in more than 20 resource-rich countries. During this time she also led NRGI’s work on China and was a member of the senior management team. Earlier in her career Gaughran worked for over 15 years at Amnesty International, in a variety of posts including Director of Global Issues and Research, and as a researcher for grassroots environmental and social justice organizations in south-east Asia and southern Africa.  

Gaughran originally trained as a journalist in her native Ireland. She also holds a degree in biology and ecology, as well as post graduate qualifications in human rights from the University of London and environmental science from the Open University. She has written extensively on the environmental and human rights impacts of multinational companies and on the intersection of international human rights, environmental and economic law frameworks.