Research Projects - Countryside and Community Research Institute

The CCRI is currently working on the following projects funded by the EU research programmes, UK Government and others:

SURE-Farm (Towards SUstainable and REsilient EU FARMing systems)

The CCRI is one partner of a 16 pan-European consortium (from 13 countries), led by Wageningen University, with a strong transdisciplinary approach....

SoilCare (SoilCare for profitable and sustainable crop production in Europe)

CCRI is one of 28 collaborating partners on this 5-year project, led by Alterra, University of Wageningen, Netherlands. The project started on 1st March 2016....

ROBUST (Rural-Urban Outlooks: Unlocking Synergies)

The CCRI is working with 23 partner organisations across Europe in this 4-year Horizon 2020 project, which started in June 2017....

Going the Extra Mile (GEM)

A three-year evaluation of the Going the Extra Mile (GEM) begun in 2016, which further develops and applies social value research techniques, as demonstrated in projects such as the Hulme Community Garden Centre Project. Funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Big Lottery, GEM aims to move the county’s most vulnerable adults closer to employment, training and education....

Economic analysis and project evaluation of the ‘Molland Graze the Moor’

Janet Dwyer is currently working with CCRI Associate, Allan Butler, from the Royal Agricultural University, to provide an economic analysis and project evaluation of the ‘Molland Graze the Moor' project in Exmoor. ...

Changing Treescapes

Read more about the new AHRC funded project TREESCAPES....

Completion of Farmsteads and Landscapes Statements for England’s National Character Areas

Peter Gaskell is undertaking this work for Historic England, which aims to complete and publish a baseline statement for England’s National Character Areas...

An adaptive decision-support tool for better grassland management by UK farmers

The CCRI is part of a partnership for a two year research translation project funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Club (SARIC). The project runs from 2018 to 2020....

GIS of the Lower Severn Vale

This project, led by Robert Berry, is aimed at developing a digital map database, or geographic information system (GIS), of the Lower Severn Vale using undergraduate student interns working with open source GIS software....

Evaluation of Innovative Farmers programme

Following a successful evaluation of the Soil Association’s Duchy Originals Future Farming programme in 2014, the CCRI was invited in 2016 to evaluate its successor programme, Innovative Farmers...

Heritage, natural capital and ecosystem services: Lower Severn Vale

This project will use a range of existing and ongoing work including data on boundaries in the Lower Severn Vale to develop GIS resources in the Lower Severn Vale using open data and open source GIS software. ...

RSN Rural Survey on Rural Housing

This Rural Housing Survey sought the opinions and experiences of residents of rural areas in England to help Rural England better understand housing issues ...

Foresters’ Forest – Monitoring and Evaluation

In the autumn of 2014, the CCRI was successful in a bid to undertake a long-term evaluation of the Forest of Dean Landscape Partnership, known as the 'Foresters' Forest'....

LANDWISE

Chris Short is working with other researchers in a 4-year innovative collaborative project, LANDWISE, which will join forces with farmers, advisors, communities and local authorities across the West Thames area to learn how different land management methods impact on flood risk....

Heritage, natural capital and ecosystem services: Historic buildings and boundaries

This collaborative project will demonstrate how buildings and boundaries enclosing spaces associated with their historic use can be better integrated into decision making processes based on an ecosystem services approach....

FUTGRAZE

The CCRI is involved in a project, FUTGRAZE, which is being led by the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)....

Developing an ecosystems approach: Dry stone walls

The project will develop a methodology that can identify the benefits and attribute values associated with the dry stone walls of the Peak District National Park...

National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE)

The National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) aims to realise a step change in innovation and unlock potential in the UK’s rural economies. ...

SPRINT (Sustainable Plant Protection Transition: A Global Health Approach)

The CCRI is a member of this 28 partner Horizon 2020 funded project which runs for 5-years from September 2020....

Developing social indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of Agri-environment Schemes

In 2019 a team at CCRI was commissioned by Natural England to work with them to develop a set of social indicators that can be used to monitor and evaluate agri-environment schemes. That work has now developed a set of twenty indicators, set within five themes....