Jeremy Phillipson
Director
Director
Deputy Director
Centre Manager & Senior Research Associate
Operations Coordinator
Research Associate
Co-investigator
Business Development Manager
Communications Manager
Policy Advisor
Research Associate
Co-investigator
Co-investigator
PhD Researcher
Innovation Associate
Innovation Associate
Innovation Associate
Innovation Associate
Innovation Associate
I'm Director of NICRE and Professor of Rural Development at the Centre for Rural Economy, Newcastle University. I have research interests on: the development needs of rural economies and fishing communities; expertise exchange within rural land management; the integration of social and natural sciences in resource management. I'm an adviser to government through my membership of Defra Science Advisory Council Social Science Expert Group, Defra Rural Academic Panel, Scottish Government Rural Economy Action Group. I'm also a member of the Northern Uplands Leader Local Action Group. Previously, I was Assistant Director of the UK Research Council's Rural Economy and Land Use Programme.
I’m Deputy Director of NICRE and Professor of Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. My research on rural business began with a PhD on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in rural England. For the last twenty years, I have worked at Newcastle University. I have been involved in several projects related to rural enterprises, food supply chains and food marketing. I teach marketing and collaborate extensively with colleagues in the Centre for Rural Economy. I am currently the coordinator of the EU Horizon 2020 project Strength2Food. This project considers the economic, social and environmental impacts of food quality schemes, public sector food procurement and short food supply chains.
I'm Centre Manager at NICRE and Senior Research Associate in Rural Enterprise at Newcastle University. I'm an applied social scientist in sustainable agriculture, food and the rural economy and hold a PhD in Economics. My research interests relate to rural development challenges. I undertake quantitative and qualitative research on various topics including: small rural businesses and development strategies; economic rural diversification; regional foods and short food supply chains; economic impacts of agricultural policy; competitiveness and sustainability of agri-food supply chains. I contribute to the effective management, planning and evaluation of NICRE's portfolio of research and innovation activities. I'm also Project Manager on Horizon 2020 Strength2Food. Over the last ten years I have contributed to various EU funded research projects (VALUMICS, COMPETE, FACTOR MARKETS). Most recent work includes action research and innovation pilot actions to stimulate high-quality short food supply chains in North-East England.
I’m Operations Coordinator at NICRE. I support the NICRE Management Team and partners to achieve the Centre’s strategic aims and objectives. I lead on all operational and administrative processes at the Centre. I am responsible for developing and implementing required processes, from purchasing, to finance and procurement. I’m the first point of contact for partner and stakeholder enquiries. I provide comprehensive administrative support in coordinating and supporting designated committees.
I am a Research Associate in Quantitative Data Analysis at NICRE. My research interests relate to SMEs’ access to the financial market and their business growth. I have used quantitative research techniques to study how firm performance is constrained by financial resources and how firms’ perception of financial constraints relates to their credit-rationing experience in the financial market. My current work aims at understanding regional differences in access to external funding and performance in small firms. I’m completing my PhD in Business and Management at Warwick Business School which focuses on entrepreneurial finance.
I am Co-investigator at NICRE and Senior Lecturer in Economics at Newcastle University Business School. I’m an applied economist with expertise in firm-level data. My research interests relate to applying micro-econometrics techniques to issues in international economics, trade, labour, international business, applied industrial organisation, SMEs and rural businesses. Within NICRE I am leading some work to understand how rural SMEs start the process of internationalisation and what barriers and challenges they face, but also what transformative process internationalisation creates for these firms. I am also a Co-Investigator with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC), led by Nesta, where I am involved in research on the internationalisation of creative industries in collaboration with a Newcastle-based team. I’ve been affiliated with Rural Enterprise UK since 2016.
I’m the Business Development Manager at NICRE. With 25 years working in rural business support in a variety of roles from practical environmental projects, supporting businesses to start, grow and export as well as training both businesses and community organisations, I bring a wide range of practical and applied experience to NICRE. My role is to engage with the wide range of organisations, businesses and stakeholders operating in rural areas to promote the work of NICRE, to help them find the support that they need to grow and to provide a range of training and best practice sharing events. I also support the Living Lab innovation projects, supporting organisations and communities to get involved and disseminating their findings to interested parties. As someone who lives, and raises a family in a rural community, the work of NICRE provides an exciting opportunity to play a part in shaping the future of those communities and helping to tap into their natural ability for innovation and extend their business talents for a sustainable future.
I’m the communications manager at NICRE and my role is to raise awareness of its key messages and outcomes to a variety of audiences. I manage all aspects of communications with external stakeholders and internally with partners. I oversee NICRE’s social media presence and website and liaise with the media in order to showcase its work. Before joining NICRE, I was a reporter on a local newspaper in rural Northumberland and worked for more than a decade in communications in the NHS.
I’m a Policy Advisor at NICRE and an independent economic consultant with more than 20 years’ experience in cost benefit analysis and evaluation. I worked for 16 years in the UK’s Government Economic Service on topics including the environment and agriculture, labour markets, industrial policy, and health and safety policies. I was the chief economist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2016. In his role I oversaw the economic analysis of regulations and related Government spending including on marine, animal health research institutions such as FERA (Food and Environmental Research Agency, now FERA Science ltd) and measures to enhance the development of rural and coastal areas. Prior to that I led on appraisal and evaluation methodology in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In 2017 I set up my consultancy business LIVE Economics ltd. I also teach Economic Policy Analysis at the University of Kent.
I am a Research Associate at NICRE, working to deliver and evaluate our innovation projects with communities and businesses in the North East, and manage our partnerships. My previous research focused on farmer networks, including coordinating farmer participatory trials in seven European countries as part of an EU-Horizon 2020 project and assessing farmer experiences of regenerative agriculture in the North of England. I am interested in local and regionalised supply chains, having worked with a grain co-operative in Northumberland to grow, process and market spelt, rye and buckwheat through collaboration with rural businesses. I am particularly drawn to projects with an emphasis on engagement and outreach, looking to collaborate and facilitate knowledge exchange. Originally from the United States, I have lived in Newcastle since 2013, completing an MSc and PhD at Newcastle University.
I am Co-investigator at NICRE and Professor of Sociology at Newcastle University. My research focuses on rural social change, rural governance, international migration and research ethics and methodologies. I have published extensively on rural development and I’m interested in the inequalities faced by migrants in the labour market, particularly the agri-food sector, and in other parts of everyday life. I’m an active member of various international research networks including the Trans-Atlantic Rural Research Network and the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS). I am currently co-editor-in-chief of Sociologia Ruralis.
Prior to working in academia I held various positions in the voluntary and community sector and within local government. I continue to work with third sector organisations and with government departments to ensure that my research has social and economic impact. I’m a Trustee of the Plunkett Foundation.
I am Co-investigator at NICRE and Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at Newcastle University Business School, where I teach business growth and entrepreneurship. I am contributing to NICRE’s ‘resilient rural’ research through an ethnographic project investigating enterprise in market towns in the context of the impact of Covid-19. My research interests relate to entrepreneurship, work and organisations, with a particular focus on masculinities and social class.
I am a PhD Researcher at Newcastle University collaborating with NICRE to develop insights into innovations in the pub and beer industry in rural Northumberland. I have been based in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology from 2018 through my Undergraduate programme, MA, and PhD.
My research interests centre on small and micro-businesses in the pub and beer industry, particularly paying attention to the unique and diverse challenges they face in isolated rural areas, but also the opportunities that such environments might present.
My current project, in association with the Economic and Social Research Council, involves a collaboration with The Plunkett Foundation and is closely aligned with a supervisory team located in the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University, which has encouraged me to explore interdisciplinary research approaches with attention to multiple stakeholders. This has allowed me to consider new ways we can think about, prepare for, and respond to economic crisis and disruption in ways appropriate to the rural context.
Alan is based within Community Action Northumberland and works in the Tyne Valley, splitting his time between Haltwhistle Partnership and Prudhoe Community Partnership.
At Haltwhistle, Alan’s work is currently centred on supporting the development trust’s governance and management arrangements whilst developing initiatives to build partnerships and stimulate town growth. In Prudhoe, his work is focussed on the creation of town centre youth, community, training and enterprise facilities on a former school site. He leads on a range of other community-based initiatives aimed at building community involvement and protecting community assets.
Before this role, Alan has had a varied career in social housing management, older people’s services and project development. Recent senior roles have included the management of independent living accommodation for older people in Northumberland for Anchor Hanover; business development and project management for Age UK North Tyneside; and homelessness service management for younger people and disadvantaged groups for Churches Acting Together in North Tyneside.
Chris is an experienced food and drink specialist, having spent more than 25 years in hospitality, agri supply chain, new product development, international business and cluster development.
His experience of scaling up and improving market access for small agricultural cooperatives has given him the opportunity to work independently across many countries.
In 2012, he joined the Department for International Trade as a Food and Drink Specialist responsible for facilitating export growth across the North East of England, and has retained an impressive regional, national and international network.
Chris is deeply committed to building a world-class food and drink economy in the North East and founded Food and Drink North East (FADNE) in 2018 in a bid to support and grow the sector.
It is through his work at FADNE that Chris is a NICRE Innovation Associate where he draws on a common theme throughout his career of unlocking rural potential - whether that be improving engagement with business, tackling connectivity and infrastructure challenges or raising growth aspirations, just a few of the challenges rural businesses face.
Andy is Chief Executive at Community Action Northumberland (CAN), a charity working for communities across rural Northumberland within the ACRE network (Action with Communities in Rural England).
As part of his role at CAN, Andy is a NICRE Innovation Associate and is working on a range of initiatives including net zero community buildings equipped with solar panels and associated battery storage facilities, digital inclusivity and housing to meet the needs of rural communities.
Andy is also an Assistant Director at the Rural Services Network (RSN), secretary to the Rural Housing Alliance and a founding director of Communities CAN (North East), a community-led housing hub encouraging the development of locally-owned and managed affordable homes.
Prior to moving to the community and voluntary sector in 2015, Andy had spent more than 20 years working in local authority rural development.
Steven leads on sustainability at Food and Drink North East (FADNE) and is passionate about transitioning logistics and supply chain activities within the sector to low carbon solutions.
As part of FADNE’s partnership with NICRE, Steven is working towards trialling the use of e-cargo bikes and e-vans to offer a local delivery service in Hexham, with the aim of demonstrating that they can work in rural areas as well as urban centres.
With interests in food, climate, cycling and sustainability, Steven has had a varied career, focused over the last five years on helping the public and businesses to embrace e-bikes and e-cargo bikes. He is co-curator of Jesmond Food Market and has previous experience as an operations director for international catering and facilities management companies.
Hilary is based within our partners the Rural Design Centre and works with communities in rural County Durham. Her post is jointly funded by NICRE and Business Durham.
Hilary brings with her a wealth of experience managing a diverse range of global partnerships and projects within fair trade, industry and education, primarily within the interiors, and design sectors.
She is also an experienced Functional Skills and Special Educational Needs (SEND) teaching specialist who has worked on the design, delivery and quality assurance of courses for several, educational institutions, training partners and charities across the region.
Throughout her career, Hilary has drawn upon the common themes addressed by NICRE and Business Durham from both a business and educational perspective. She uses creative ideology to help find solutions to key issues within the region based on resilience, community, connectivity and energy. Hilary is passionate about supporting and empowering individuals and communities within the Durham region.
Co-director
Deputy Director
Senior Research Fellow
Co-investigator
Research Assistant
Co-investigator
Research Assistant
Senior Research Fellow
Research Engagement Manager
Research Fellow
PhD Researcher
I’m Co-Director of NICRE and Professor of Rural Policy at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI).
My research expertise centres on European and UK rural development policy and practice, with particular interest in integrated approaches, environmental sustainability and institutional adaptation. I’m well-known in policymaking circles in the UK and EU with skills in facilitation and consensus-building. I’m a regular speaker at international conferences. I’m an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies of the UK and of the French Academie d’Agriculture, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a founder and steering group member of the Uplands Alliance, and an active member of the UK Agricultural Economics Society. Recent projects include a farm survey of Exmoor; a major EU-28 study on public goods and ecosystem services from farming and forestry (PEGASUS); supporting the government of Malta to review its agriculture policy and prepare its RDP for 2014-2020; and a pan-EU study on Rural Development impacts (RuDI).
I’m Deputy Director of NICRE, Creak Chair Professor in Rural Policy and Strategy at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), and Research Director for the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission. My work informs national and international policy relating to the land-based sector, the environment and food. I’m an advisor to the National Food Strategy and I joined the RAU from the Soil Association, where I was Director of Innovation. There, I founded the Innovative Farmers network, which supports practical ‘field labs’ by farmers. During 2003-2011 I was also Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council. I have a PhD in geography from the University of Manchester, where I investigated the use and abuse of science in food regulation.
I’m a Senior Research Fellow at NICRE and at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I’m an interdisciplinary researcher specialised in rural and regional development, working towards inclusive futures for rural people and places. My work investigates how historic and contemporary policies and practices help, or hinder, thriving regions, and experiments with new models to re-enable those ‘left behind’. I collaborate with sustainable development practitioners and local government to broker knowledge and translate research into policy-ready language and practical tools. My work on creating rural-urban connections is featured in the European Commission’s Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies. I’m currently involved in two H2020 projects (ROBUST and IMAJINE). I’m an affiliate of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), have been an invited speaker for the National Trust and the Assembly of European Regions and, in 2019, I was recognised as one of the Welsh Crucible’s thirty emerging research leaders.
I am Co-investigator at NICRE and Associate Professor in Environmental Governance at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I am contributing to NICRE research on natural capital and rural enterprise, and agriculture in transition. My teaching and research interests relate to the relationship between different land uses, communities and policies, as well as innovations that can result from local decision making. My research for the past 25 years has mainly focused on changes in agriculture, activities that enhance the environment, how people engage with nature and developing inclusive solutions to complex issues for UK government departments and the European Commission. I am recognised as an expert in integrated catchment management, landscape scale management and nature-based solutions.
I am a Research Assistant at NICRE and at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I am supporting work on finance and developing new research on understanding rural resilience. My research interests are around quantitative data analysis techniques, particularly developing advanced multivariate structural models, social network analysis and classification methods. At the CCR, I am working on the Going the Extra Mile project (GEM) - an on-going mixed methods evaluation of an employment inclusivity programme in Gloucestershire - evaluating mental health, wellbeing and social impacts of the project.
I am Co-investigator at NICRE and Professor of Agri-Food Studies at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I have over 20 years’ experience in applied social science research and significant expertise in agri-food studies, rural geography and geographies of food. My research focuses on agri-food sustainability and governance, using mixed and participatory methods. I have led prestigious EU and UK-funded projects, involving co-ordination of large interdisciplinary teams, and I work frequently with natural scientists and policymakers. I have published over 70 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. I am Associate Editor of the Journal of Rural Studies and Chair of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) Food Geographies Research Group.
I am a Research Assistant at NICRE and the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). At NICRE, I work with rural businesses and communities to deliver and evaluate innovation projects in the South West. My focus at the CCRI is the Horizon Europe RUSTIK project, which aims to improve knowledge exchange between rural businesses and communities across Europe. Specifically, I am exploring innovative approaches to societal transformation in Monmouthshire.
I continue to support research projects in areas related to my doctoral research which focused on the social dynamics of farmer groups in receipt of Countryside Stewardship Facilitation funding in England, and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Natural England. These include monitoring and evaluating agri-environment policy and understanding the drivers of farmer and land manager decision-making.
I’m a Senior Research Fellow at NICRE and the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I am an environmental economist focusing on the sustainable management of natural resources. My work involves investigation of potential policy practice gaps, public response to policy interventions and the just co-management of the rural space. I am an expert in survey design and econometric analysis, and in cognitive map building and modelling.
My work includes the use of behavioural techniques and participatory methods to explore stakeholders’ opinions in situations where their conflicting interests affect the effective management of both environmental and socio-economic resources, particularly focusing on water use and protection and on sustainable rural development at various levels.
I’m Research Engagement Manager at NICRE based at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU). My role is to help boost the impact of our research through communications and events and champion co-design and stakeholder engagement.
My initial project is carrying out stakeholder research to develop and test framings of the rural economy that engage public and policy audiences.
I bring to the role a background in communications, marketing and event management. As well as growing up in rural Wiltshire, my understanding of rural issues comes largely from my time at the Soil Association and Innovative Farmers, where I worked with farmers and researchers, helping them collaborate on finding new, environmentally-sound ways to farm.
I am a Research Fellow at NICRE and the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI). I am a sociologist, with particular interests in the lived experiences of families and young people; migration and diversity; community and identities; and qualitative methods.
My current work with NICRE involves evaluation of effectiveness of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) grants to Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) network members, and undertaking qualitative case studies of rural enterprises. I also work on the Horizon Europe RUSTIK project at the CCRI, which aims to improve knowledge exchange between rural businesses and communities across Europe.
Prior to joining the CCRI in 2023, I was Academic Subject Lead for Social Sciences and Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Gloucestershire. I have worked on research projects including the EU Horizon 2020-funded CHIEF (Cultural Heritage and Identities of Europe’s Future) project which examined the challenges faced by young people across nine countries in the course of their cultural socialisation and in accessing diverse forms of cultural participation. In addition, I have researched and published in the fields of migration and diaspora, diversity in religious communities, and families’ experiences of poverty and austerity. Before entering academia, I worked in the third sector for organisations including the Arts Council, BBC Children in Need and the Refugee Council, with a focus on supporting participatory and empowering projects for disadvantaged children and young people.
I am a PhD Researcher as part of the NICRE team undertaking a joint studentship between the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) and James Hutton Institute. My research investigates the impact of Covid-19 on how people work in rural communities and how to create resilient rural communities post-pandemic. The research project will use a case study approach alongside novel sources of quantitative and qualitative evidence.
I am based in Scotland and have previously conducted research on sustainable land management and the impact of tourism on remote Scottish communities. I am supervised by Dr Bryonny Goodwin-Hawkins (CCRI), Dr Mags Currie, Dr Jonathan Hopkins (both James Hutton Institute), and Associate Professor Joanie Willett (University of Exeter).
Co-Director
Deputy Director
Research Fellow
Research Fellow
ERC Centre Manager
Research Fellow
I’m Co-Director of NICRE, Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School and Director of the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC). I am an economist with over 30 years’ experience of researching issues related to small and medium enterprises, innovation and innovation policy in the UK and internationally and have published widely in both areas. I have led over 70 externally funded projects, have been a member of a number of government advisory boards, and I regularly act as a consultant for OECD and the World Bank on issues related to small business development and innovation policy including projects in Austria, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, Israel, Columbia and Poland, Austria and Canada over the last four years. I am an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the RSA.
I am Deputy Director of NICRE and Associate Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School. My expertise ranges across a variety of qualitative and quantitative research techniques: on external advice to small firms, the diagnosis of firm problems, policy choices in business support, firm growth and the adoption of new working practices in SMEs. I have worked for the Advanced Institute of Management and client list includes OECD, the government department for Business, past clients included the Small Business Service and Business Link University.
I am Research Fellow at NICRE and at the Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick Business School. Since joining Warwick in 2018, I have contributed to a multi-country study into SME resilience funded by JP Morgan, and to a major UK study into mental health in the workplace. My current research interests include business and individual resilience, ethics, innovation and entrepreneurship. Before coming to academia, I spent 17 years working in global consumer marketing roles in UK-based companies.
I am a Research Fellow at NICRE and a postdoctoral fellow at the Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick Business School. I hold a PhD in Economics and Innovation Management. My interdisciplinary research seeks to address real-world challenges through policy-relevant economic analysis, by examining the impact of innovation, in particular Environmental Innovations, on firm growth and competitiveness for manufacturing and agricultural enterprises. I use applied economic and econometric methods to understand how businesses and regions can become more sustainable. Latest work explores the institutional, demand and supply-side factors, and organisational dynamics, that drive conventional and environmental innovations, as well as firm performance. I am also currently working on a BBSRC Global Challenges Research project on Valuing Orchard and Integrated Crop Ecosystem Services.
I am the ERC Centre Manager, based at Warwick Business School. I am responsible for providing effective project management including budgetary responsibility, overseeing the development of strategic and planning documentation, and providing effective administrative support to the Director and Deputy Directors.
I am a Research Fellow at NICRE at the Enterprise Research Centre at Warwick Business School.
I hold a PhD in Management from the Adam Smith Business School - University of Glasgow. I was visiting researcher at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, at the NEOMA Business School in France and at the Dundee Business School in Scotland.
My research focuses on SME internationalisation, international entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, international management and international entry mode decision.
I was the Winner of the Adam Smith Business School Award "Excellence in Research 2021" and the Winner of the "Business and Innovation Alumni Award 2022" by British Council. I have also worked for the US multinational Marsh & McLennan Companies and the Intrakat Constructions S.A. (Intracom Holdings Group).
Associate Fellow
Associate Fellow
Associate Fellow
Associate Fellow
Associate Fellow
Formally a Research Fellow at NICRE and at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), I am now an Associate Fellow, having joined London Metropolitan University as a Lecturer in Finance in September 2023. I remain involved with NICRE through my work analysing data from the State of Rural Enterprise Survey and other collaborations.
I hold a PhD in Development Economics from the Ruhr-University Bochum. My previous research focused on the role of public expenditure and financial systems in economic development. My work included the role of subsidies on agricultural productivity, impact of finance on agricultural productivity and small businesses’ growth, monetary theory of financial underdevelopment, and the economics of financial cooperatives. I mainly use economic modelling and applied econometric methods in my research. Current research interests concern agricultural environmental practices and farm productivity, and impact of balance of payment on inflation.
I was affiliated to NICRE while completing my PhD at the Centre for Rural Economy and Newcastle University Business School which explored the capacity for social enterprise in the rural communities of County Durham, in collaboration with Durham Community Action, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). I am now an Associate Fellow having joined the Rural Design Centre Innovation Project (RDCIP) as a Design Associate in summer 2022.
I'm an applied social scientist with expertise in qualitative research methods. My work focuses on the resources and processes, particularly from a social perspective, used to start up and sustain enterprises, in both private and social sectors. Previous research includes work with The Princes Trust and North Pennines LEADER which focused on barriers and enablers for young people setting up their businesses in different rural areas, funded by One North East.
Prior to returning to academia in 2014, I worked with businesses, community groups, small charities, community interest companies, the University of Northumbria and Newcastle University. I am a founding director of Nature's Living Room CIC.
I was formerly a Co-investigator at NICRE, and co-lead of the rural creative industries research stream, while a Senior Lecturer in Business Strategy and Convenor of the Rural Economy research group at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU). I am now an Associate Fellow, having joined the Open University Business School as a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship within the Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise (PuLSE).
My research interests focus on business support, creative industries, small business development in urban and rural economies and qualitative methodologies. I am a sought-after panellist for presenting the lens of entrepreneurship-as-practice research.
I am an elected Council member for the British Academy of Management and Co-Chair of its Conference Strategy-as-Practice Track. A former award-winning service micro-entrepreneur, I have served as director and non-executive director for social enterprises since 2009. A specialist in evaluation of publicly-funded business development programmes, I advised Business Link, European Regional Development Fund programmes and Local Enterprise Partnerships and shaped and evaluated business support programmes, giving me unique insights which inform my research.
Having been a Research Fellow at NICRE, I am now an Associate Fellow after joining Scotland’s Rural University College (SRUC) in autumn 2022 as a Research Fellow, focusing on the rural economy, rural communities and land reform. I am a multidisciplinary qualitative researcher and have expertise in rural and regional development, rural sociology, governance, innovation and economic geography.
In addition to NICRE, I have worked at the Centre for Rural Economy, the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (all Newcastle University) and the Centre for Rural Policy Research Centre at the University of Exeter on a variety of projects. These included sustainable rural tourism, the innovativeness of land-based sectors and SMEs, and policy nexus work.
I gained my PhD at the Centre for Rural Economy, focusing on rural enterprise hubs which are physical infrastructure aimed at bringing rural businesses into closer proximity to share knowledge, network and collaborate. The PhD also critiqued (urban-centric) Territorial Innovation Models (TIMs) and analysed the role the hubs played in contributing to these systems and providing rural businesses with access to these.
While at NICRE, I was sponsored by the ESRC to write my PhD findings on rural enterprise hubs into journal articles and I collaborated with colleagues to plan new research agendas around the Centre’s objectives and goals.
Formerly a Research Assistant at NICRE, working to support the Newcastle University portfolio of innovation and research projects, I am now an Associate Fellow, having joined the Scottish Government as a Senior Social Researcher with the Office of the Chief Economic Advisor (energy and heat analysis) in autumn 2022.
Prior to these posts, I completed a PhD in Sociology and Social Policy at Newcastle, researching agriculture policy, land use and waterway management in Ireland and Northern Ireland. I have previously conducted research on topics related to public health and nutrition, sustainable agriculture and agriculture policy, all areas in which I retain a keen interest. I am also very interested in multi-disciplinary research and have worked collaboratively with qualitative and quantitative researchers, policy makers and third sectors organisations, both academically and professionally.
Before returning to academia, I was Chief Executive of Cultivate London, a London-based horticultural social enterprise.
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