08 March 2022
To mark International Women’s Day 2022, NICRE co-director Janet Dwyer, Professor of Rural Policy at the Countryside and Community Research Institute – herself a prominent female leader in the agricultural sector – tells us how she was inspired by political economist Elinor Ostrom, a pioneer of this year’s theme of #BreakTheBias.
I am a professor in a domain of agriculture economics which is quite a rare thing for a woman. It is male-dominated as a discipline, but I work in that area because I am passionate about sustainable land management and sustainable rural futures so it’s a good place to be from that perspective.
A woman who has inspired me throughout my career is Elinor Ostrom who was a fantastic, unorthodox, and pioneering woman in the field of economics. She founded the International Association for the Study of the Commons and fought tirelessly for the rights of indigenous people in debates about property and sustainability. She challenged conventional thinking by demonstrating how local property can be successfully managed by local commoners and communities, without any regulation by central authorities or by privatisation.
Elinor’s work culminated in her being awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009. She was a great figure to inspire a generation of activists globally and has certainly had a profound impact on me: I was lucky enough to meet and talk with her on a few memorable occasions.
At a time of great uncertainty for agricultural and rural economies with the climate crisis, post-Brexit policy and market turbulence, her work continues to guide my research and, particularly over the last year, in my role as president of the UK Agricultural Economics Society.
As we consider this year’s #BreakTheBias theme of International Women’s Day and imagine a work that is diverse, equitable and inclusive, Elinor was certainly a trailblazer in this regard and truly an inspiration.
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).
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