Nicole Auil is a native-born Belizean. She attained a BSc degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1996, majoring in Environmental and Sustainable Resources. Returning home immediately after university, she joined the team at the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (CZMAI) (formerly the GEF/UNDP Coastal Zone Management Project) as the Manatee Researcher. After five years in that role, Nicole took two years study leave to pursue a Master of Science degree at Texas A & M University in the US. She was awarded three scholarships for this purpose, including being selected a WWF Conservation Leader for Latin America. Majoring in Wildlife Management, her thesis was on the seasonal distribution of manatees in Belize, and its conservation implications. Nicole retuned to work in Belize resuming her position at CZMI until March 2004. She has since been the Belize Program Manager / Conservation Biologist of Wildlife Trust.

Her experiences include wildlife research and management and conservation education, on a local and national level. In 1998, Nicole developed the Belize Manatee Recovery Plan that outlines the conservation activities for a four year countrywide manatee programme, and was carried out in the CZMI project. She also has international experience, such as her role as advisor for manatee programs in the Gulf of Honduras, and working in a protected area in Niger, West Africa, in the summer of 2002.

Nicole is one of this year's recipients of the Whitley Fund for Nature award, the funds for which will be used to further her current research and management work in the Southern Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary.

Nicole has is a member of the Board of Directors for the Belize Audubon Society since 2001. She is also on the board of Sirenian International, a group of researcher and educators focused on manatees worldwide.