Bryn Smith

I am a PhD researcher in SRUC’s Rural Policy Centre examining the roles, practices and outcomes of community-owned infrastructures and assets in rural Scotland. My doctoral project investigates how these assets operate as local development infrastructures and anchoring spaces for economic, social and civic activity, particularly in contexts of constrained public provision. Using qualitative and ethnographic methods the thesis identifies the conditions that enable such initiatives to thrive. 

I hold a First-Class BA in Management (with Finance) from the University of Leicester and a Distinction MA in Social and Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent, where I engaged in an ethnographic study of regenerative agricultural smallholders. I have previously worked on participatory and multi-stakeholder food insecurity research at the University of Nottingham and supported research governance and ethics processes at UCL.