Rural Policy Centre

New project to map landowners in Scotland

With concentration of landownership in Scotland the highest in Europe, new research aims to understand whether recent land transactions are leading to - and fuelled by - land use change, such as towards achieving net zero.…

SRUC
30/04/2024

Embracing Industrial Strategy: Pioneering High-Value Manufacturing in Food and Drink

With a UK General Election expected this year, industrial policy – the concept of direct government intervention to boost particular sectors of the economy – is moving into the spotlight.…

Wayne Powell
30/01/2024

£100k research project to explore agricultural policy impacts on island communities

SRUC has been awarded a £100k research grant to gather the views of island communities in Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides on the forthcoming agricultural and land use policy changes.…

SRUC
09/01/2024

Measuring food (in)security in local contexts: A Hawai’i case study

MSc Food Security student Jason Shon, from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, shares insights from his dissertation ‘Ranking Food Security Metrics in Hawaiʻi: A Delphi Approach’.…

Jason Shon
10/10/2023

Scotland Praised by the OECD in a new report on rural innovation

A new report by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) praising the innovation of rural Scotland was launched this week.…

Ian Merrell
29/09/2023

Talking hemp – the super crop

A new podcast, released today by Scotland’s Rural College’s Rural Policy Centre, looks at why so few farmers are currently growing hemp in Scotland.…

SRUC
21/09/2023

Equality, Opportunity, Community: What does it mean for Scotland’s rural communities?

If the First Minister is to achieve his ambition of delivering a wellbeing economy which is ‘fair, green and growing’, policies need to deliver for rural and island Scotland as much as they do for urban Scotland. Read more from our Rural Policy Centre's response to the Scottish Government's Programme for Government 2023-24 here.…

Rural Policy Centre
06/09/2023

Lost in translation? Insights from an international approach to rural issues at ESRS 2023

Dr Ana Vuin, a Research Fellow with the Rural Policy Centre, shares her experience of attending The European Society for Rural Sociology’s biennial congress in July 2023.…

Ana Vuin
27/07/2023

Rural Enterprise Hubs: creating a home for business and communities

Supporting Scotland’s rural and island communities in ways that make financial sense while also benefitting those living and working locally requires a thought-out approach and careful planning. That’s where Rural Enterprise Hubs can come into their own. …

Ian Merrell
21/07/2023

Escape to the country

A shift to hybrid working practices following the coronavirus pandemic has led to some people swapping city living for country life. …

SRUC
07/02/2023

Edible insects: the low carbon snack with big potential

In this blog post, Dr Pattanapong Tiwasing, a researcher at our Rural Policy Centre, highlights the benefits edible insects can bring to our sustainability goals. He also delves into the current status of the insect sector in the UK and beyond, urging policymakers to take action to enable it to survive.…

SRUC
30/11/2022

What can Scotland learn from Japan about island depopulation?

A cross-cultural research team comprised of both UK- and Japan-based researchers examine some specific strategies used on a small number of Japanese islands in order to understand the viability of using them to tackle depopulation trends in Scotland’s island communities.…

Luke Dilley and Jane Atterton
16/11/2022