Organisation profile
Organisation profile
The Rural Policy Centre is a hub for generating and sharing up-to-date evidence on rural and natural economy issues, including the environment, climate change, agriculture, food and rural businesses and communities. The Rural Policy Centre operates as a focus for research and knowledge exchange work on rural policy issues, informing and contributing to policy debates through:
- Issuing regular briefings based on recent research and policy developments
- Serving as Secretariat for the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Rural Policy
- Conducting research projects and organising high profile events
Through our work, we aim to improve the evidence and expand the knowledge base on rural Scotland and to inform the development of future policies. Our research outputs share valuable and straightforward insights on the big issues affecting rural lives. Research outputs are organised into four themes:
- Environment and climate
- Land use and land reform
- Food, health and wellbeing
- Rural economies and communities
Keywords
- land reform
- rural livelihoods
- natural capital
- rural policy
- climate policy
- agricultural policy
UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Our work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 1 No Poverty -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy -
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth -
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities -
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities -
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production -
SDG 13 Climate Action -
SDG 15 Life on Land
Fingerprint
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Profiles
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Jane Atterton
- Rural Economy Environment And Society, Rural Policy Centre - Senior Lecturer
- Scotland's Rural College - Senior Lecturer
Person: Academic contract that is research only
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Carey Doyle
- Rural Economy Environment And Society, Rural Policy Centre - Research Associate
- Scotland's Rural College - Research Associate
Person: Academic contract that is research only
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Does AI Have a Place in Rural Governance? Navigating the co-creation of responsive digital technology solutions in rural Canada and Scotland
Merrell, I. (PI) & Kelly, W. (CoI)
1/05/25 → 30/04/26
Project: Research
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INTANGIBLE: Understanding the social and cultural dimensions of island population change in Scotland, England, Canada and Japan
Winship, A. (PI), Wilson, R. (PI), Brinklow, L. (CoPI), Dilley, L. (CoPI) & Atterton, J. (Other)
29/03/24 → 30/11/26
Project: Research
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Peer review of Habitat Classification System recommendations and proposed next steps in development of a Scottish Biodiversity Metric
Holland, J., Pollock, M., Tomlinson, C., Cole, L. & Coleman, N., Mar 2026, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC). 15 p.Research output: Book/Report/Policy Brief/Technical Brief › Commissioned report
Open Access -
The Global Danger Posed by Plant Disease
Walters, D., 30 Jun 2026, CABI Publishing.Research output: Book/Report/Policy Brief/Technical Brief › Book › peer-review
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Analyzing who is relevant to engage in environmental decision-making processes by interests, influence and impact: The 3i framework
Reed, M. S., Jensen, E. A., Noles, S., Conneely, D., Kendall, H., Raley, M., Tarrant, A., Oakley, N., Hinson, C., Hoare, V., Marshall, K. & Pugliese, L., Jan 2025, In: Journal of Environmental Management. 373, 123437.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile14 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)63 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Identifying Hot Spots in Rural Community Resilience in Scotland - data generation code
Spencer, M. (Creator) & Meador, E. (Contributor), Zenodo, 25 Oct 2019
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3519006, https://zenodo.org/record/3519006
Dataset
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TGRAINS: CSA Twitter database - Periphery Database
Meador, E. (Creator), Bellamy, A. S. (Creator), Milne, A. (Creator), Clear, A. (Creator), Mills, S. (Creator), Finnigan, S. M. (Creator), Sharp, R. (Creator) & Furness, E. (Creator), Zenodo, 10 May 2021
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4748678, https://zenodo.org/record/4748678
Dataset
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Mapping access to services to estimate community resilience - Edina geoforum
Spencer, M. (Creator) & Meador, E. (Creator), Zenodo, 3 Mar 2020
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3695519, https://zenodo.org/record/3695519
Dataset
Activities
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Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration: Evidence from Newton Fund Institutional Links between Thailand and the UK
Tiwasing, P. (Keynote speaker)
24 Mar 2022Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
File -
Habitat International (Journal)
Tiwasing, P. (Reviewer)
15 Mar 2022Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication Peer-review
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Collaboration, climate and natural capital: Supporting decision-making under conditions of uncertainty
Glass, J. (Speaker)
17 Feb 2022Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
File
Press/Media
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Opportunities and risks of large-scale land acquisition
Rudman, H., Reed, M., Glass, J. & Bauer, A.
31/05/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Rural Policy - the landscape post-Brexit and Scottish election (podcast)
Atterton, J., McCracken, D., Thomson, S., Fischer-Moller, M., Glass, J. & McMorran, R.
27/05/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media
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