International Activities
The CCRI enjoys a strong international reputation and continues to contribute to the advancement of rural development in Europe and beyond. As well as through funded research (reported in the Funded Research section), this is achieved through invited presentations on a wide range of rural development issues at international conferences, as well as membership of international bodies and committees.
Paul Courtney was awarded a grant in connection with European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas. The study, which is being coordinated by Andrew Copus at the University of Highlands and Islands and Petri Kahila of Nordregio, Sweden, is funded under the EU’s ESPON 2013 programme. The research involves 16 academic partners from across the European Union and Paul’s role is to lead a programme of work examining the role of urban-rural interactions in facilitating European rural development opportunities.
Together with Ian Smith, Director of the Cities Research Centre at UWE, Paul Courtney won a grant from the European Directorate General for Regional Policy (DG Regio) to carry out a preparatory study for a seminar on urban-rural linkages fostering social cohesion. The seminar, which is the third in a recent series examining the potential for rural-urban cooperation in Europe, was held in Brussels in summer 2009. As well as facilitating the seminar, Ian and Paul have written working papers and have undertaken a series of small European case studies on rural-urban linkages and social cohesion.
Paul Courtney and John Powell are currently working in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with Handicap International on a project to integrate rural development with mine action work.
Visiting Professor Michael Dower helped the Ministry of Agriculture in Romania in the setting up of a National Rural Development Network. Professor Dower, an expert in European rural development and a former Director General of the Countryside Commission, provided advice to ensure that 8 billion euros, awarded to Romania by the EU to spend on rural development between 2007 and 2013, is utilised efficiently. His advice will help to spread understanding of rural development principles among communities and enterprises in rural Romania.
A large amount of Janet Dwyer's work is focused on European policy for sustainable agriculture and rural development, and she is currently leading CCRI research teams in two EU funded projects - CAPRI-RD and RuDI (see Funded Research). In 2009 she acted as an expert adviser on the following EU studies:
European Court of Auditors current review of Agri-Environment Measures across the EU;
European Commission DG Regio evaluation of Structural Fund (ERDF) programmes 2000-06, work package 9 - impacts on Rural Development;
Study by the European Environment Agency examining the targeting of CAP support (pillars 1 and 2) to environmental priorities in Europe.
Janet Dwyer also chaired a session on the evaluation of agricultural and rural policies at a conference in Strasbourg organized by La Société Française de l'Évaluation and la DeGEval-Gesellschaft für Evaluation on 3-4 July 2008. The conference was held at the European Parliament's buildings and was attended by over 700 delegates. Janet presented a paper on 'the effects of the 2003 CAP reforms on environmentally sustainable land management' at the OECD in Paris which was well received by delegates from a wide range of member countries who sit on the joint working party on agriculture and environment. Janet was appointed as the external expert for the OECD review of Rural Policy in Italy in 2008. This involved working with the in-house territorial development team to conduct the review, and putting together the recommendations for the final report, which was published in June 2009.
Peter Gaskell presented papers to the World Archaeological Congress in Dublin, Ireland (29 June - 4 July 2008) and the Permanent European Conference for the study of the Rural Landscape in Lisbon, Portugal (1-5 September 2008).
Brian Ilbery gave the keynote lecture on land tenure and property rights at the Australia and New Zealand Agri-Food Research Network conference in Sydney in November 2008. In June 2008 he co-presented a paper with Damian Maye on the dynamics of organic farming in England and Wales at an Anglo-German rural geography conference in Oldenburg. Earlier, in April 2008, he presented the findings from some of CCRI's research on local food systems in the UK at an international seminar hosted by l'Institut National de la Recherché Agronomique (INRA), which is one of France's leading agricultural research institutions. Brian also acts as an International Assessment Board member to help evaluate applications for research degree studentships to the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) in Dublin, and was one of a small number of international referees who assessed a research project submitted to the Austrian Science Fund on ‘farming styles in Austria, 1930s - 1970s’. He has also acted as an External Examiner for Central Queensland University in Australia, for a PhD on quality and commodity beef chains in central Queensland.
Owain Jones presented a paper at the Welfare Quality International Conference in Florence, Italy, in March 2009. The conference was entitled 'Knowing animals: cross-fertilisation between natural and social sciences for understanding the quality of life of animals’. Owain also had an article published in the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (HUGY) entitled 'Dwelling', which relates to ideas of place, landscape, life, and beyond.
Damian Maye, together with Janet Dwyer, James Kirwan and Sandrina Pereira, helped to run an RDP policy design workshop in Stockholm as part of the RuDI project. Damian Maye also co-presented two papers with Brian Ilbery on the RELU programme at the Agri-Food Research Network conference in Sydney in November 2008. The first examined plant disease management issues, and the second looked at the potential for a RELU-like interdisciplinary research programme to inform rural policy and research in Australia. In March 2009 Damian Maye co-presented a paper with Janet Dwyer at the Joint AESI/AESone-day conference on rural development in Dublin. The paper compared lessons from policy design in England and Ireland.
Jane Mills led a CCRI research team in a project which produced a report detailing the environmental regulations and regulatory frameworks that apply to agricultural activity in 8 northern EU Member States (MS) with broadly similar climatic conditions - specifically, Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, England, Wales and Scotland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden. Working with Jane from CCRI were Janet Dwyer, Julie Ingram and Rosie Simpson (CCRI Research Associate).
Stephen Owen led a project for the Heritage Council of Ireland evaluating the progress of the ‘Village Design Statement’ programme, introduced into Ireland in 2000. He worked with Jeff Bishop from BDOR Ltd.
John Powell and Chris Short convened the 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons Conference, which was organised by the Countryside and Community Research Institute and held at the University of Gloucestershire on 14-18 July 2008. John Powell also gave conference presentations in Slovenia, Hungary and Sardinia.
In October 2008, Chris Short gave a presentation to the Rural Economy Department at the University of Alberta. The department is one of the largest in Canada and has a particular emphasis on local level public engagement around issues of concern, such as the social impact of climate change, and the environmental and economic impacts of oil production. The Department is traditionally strong in agriculture and forestry, and much research work is focused on rural restructuring, which mirrors changes in Europe although the scale is very different. Chris spoke on a recently completed Commission for Rural Communities project ‘social contribution of land-based industries to rural communities’.
Chris Short also gave a presentation to the International Society for the Study of Teaching and Learning, Edmonton, Canada, in October 2008
