Blogs

Welcome to the Rural Economy research group. We are a group of researchers with a shared interest in rural economies. We are drawn from different disciplines with a common interest in investigating the different enterprises that operate in rural regions across the UK and beyond. Whether these are enterprises that operate on land, remote islands or spaces or around our coastlines we are interested in how they operate, innovate, and how they fulfil a need for their communities or the wider sector they operate within. We are interested to identify any challenges, best practice and opportunities that may be unique to their rural nature and so to contribute to the ability of rural enterprises and communities to thrive and grow.

Most people immediately associate the word rural with farming, perhaps forestry and fisheries but analysis of the sector in 2022 showed that in fact these sectors constitute only 15% of all businesses located in rural areas. By far the vast majority of rural business are small – even micro businesses as very few large businesses (with some exceptions) are found in rural locations.

We are a new research cluster with the intention of growing and gathering momentum for our work, seeking opportunities to share our ideas, collaborate on funding bids and to participate in a programme of knowledge sharing that includes research seminars (for established and early career researchers) and knowledge exchange opportunities. If you would like to join us as an active researcher, a practitioner or as a research student, please contact me.

For more information or to join the research cluster, please email: Liz.Moody@open.ac.uk.

Latest blogpost

Select this link to read the latest blog: ICAERUS: Supporting sectoral and societal drone usage in Europe.