Professor Carla Willig graduated from the University of Manchester in 1986. She then embarked upon postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge where she was awarded an MPhil in Criminology in 1987. She stayed at Cambridge in order to conduct her doctoral research into the 'Social Construction of AIDS Knowledge' which she completed in 1991.
Professor Willig has held teaching positions at the University of Plymouth (1991-3) Middlesex University (1993-9) and City University London (1999 onwards). From 2001, she undertook additional training at Regents College, London, and qualified as an Existential Counselling Psychologist in 2005.