Gwenllian Lansdown-Davies (born 1979, St Asaph

St Asaph

St Asaph is a town and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 3,491.The town of St Asaph is surrounded by countryside and views of the Vale of Clwyd. It is situated close to a number of busy coastal towns such as Rhyl, Prestatyn, Abergele,...

) is a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru

' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

 politician, a former County Councillor for Riverside, and Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru between 2007 and 2011.

Background

Lansdown-Davies was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.The college was founded in 1893 as a hall for women, and remained an all-women's college until 2006....

 between 1997 and 2001 (where she was an exhibitioner

Exhibition (scholarship)

-United Kingdom and Ireland:At the universities of Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, and at Westminster School, Eton College and Winchester College, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a financial award or grant to an individual student, normally on grounds of merit. The...

 and obtained a BA Hons in Modern Languages) and at Cardiff University

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...

 (MSc Econ and PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in Political Theory). She worked as a tutor in Politics during research for her PhD.

Political career

Vice-President of Union whilst at College and Chair of Plaid Cymru Student Federation in 2003, Lansdown's political interests include community development, international relations and the environment.

Lansdown was a County Borough Councillor, serving the Riverside Electoral Division on Cardiff County Council and was elected on 10 June 2004. The Riverside electoral division has an electorate of 9,513 (1 December 2005) and has 3 seats. She stood as number 3 on the Plaid Cymru regional list for South Wales Central at the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007

National Assembly for Wales election, 2007

The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...

.

Lansdown was Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru between September 2007, replacing Dr Dafydd Trystan, and June 2011, when Rhuanedd Richards was appointed to the role. She resigned as Chief Executive of Plaid Cymru and as County Councillor for Riverside in order to move to Montgomeryshire with her new husband.

She has since taken up the position of Assistant Editor for the Welsh-language academic journal, Gwerddon.