The Geography & Environment Department had a broad representation at the European Rural Sociology Conference (ESRS) in Rennes. PhD students Kirsten Gow, Emma Cary and Roz Corbett, Dr Katrin Prager and former colleague Jennifer Dodsworth travelled to France to share their research with an international, multi-disciplinary audience.
Kirsten Gow delivered two presentations, the first looking at islands connection and return migration and the second examining island level capacities for preparing for and reacting to crises. Kirsten’s presentations received much interest, especially in relation to “Gow’s typology of islands” which was developed by Kirsten for her PhD studies. International colleagues were particularly interested in extending its use and to apply it to rural and island areas in other countries. This was Kirsten’s first in-person international conference abroad, and she especially enjoyed connecting with academics from around the world on diaspora relationships. Her highlights were connecting with other adademics and the PhD workshop that offered opportunities to learn about publishing, research methodologies in social sciences, and the use of AI in research (e.g. ChatGPT).
Roz Corbett summarised findings from her research on a land reform paradox in Scotland – in her PhD she investigates community landownership and agroecology transitions, exploring why some community landowners do not engage in agriculture, and also looking at examples of those that do. Many other EU countries have agricultural land trusts specifically to acquire agricultural land and researchers in the audience were interested to learn about this different form of land ownership and how that relates to agriculture. The session overall critiqued normative ideas of progressing agriculture. Roz learned about how agro-ecological transitions were defined; this can impact how agriculture is being progressed. This was Roz’ first international conference abroad.
Katrin Prager shared insights from the first set workshops of 16 Science Policy Interfaces organised as part of the VISIONARY project in eight European countries. This method of involving practitioners and policy makers in the research enhances the usefulness and impact of research. The first workshops were structured as a foresight exercise to identify key bottlenecks in the move to more sustainable food systems and value chains. However, much of the success of the method depends on the facilitation expertise and established networks of the researchers involved.
Jennifer Dodsworth contributed results from her work with Sheffield University, which builds on farmer relationships established during her PhD research at Oxford University, work in the Contracts2.0 project and most recently, projects for Defra to help with the co-design of the Environmental Land Management Scheme.
Emma Cary contributed to a working group which explored rewilding’s potential as a transformative solution to rural crises across Europe. In the world café session, her UK-based research was discussed alongside work from Latvia, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Finland. The sessions highlighted the diversity of rewilding approaches that exist both within and between countries, as well as the many common challenges being encountered in rural areas across Europe.
Roz found the ESRS to be a really friendly conference. Kirsten loved to meet new people and planning joint papers. Emma’s highlights include the opening plenary session given by Yorkshire artist Joanne Coates, and the fieldtrip to National Haras of Hennebont to see the draught horses used in the vineyards of Brittany. It was noticeable that many sessions discussed ‘authentic participation’ of practitioners, stakeholders and other non-academics.
