The transaction footprints of Scottish food and drink SMEs

This research is funded by Scottish Government’s Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) under Theme 8 ‘Vibrant Rural Communities’ of the Food, Land and People Programme (2011 - 2016).This paper presents a survey approach to measuring the “transaction footprints” of rural small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Combined with a graphical presentation of results, this contributes to the evidence base on the roles of local and global linkages. Findings suggest that the food and drink industry of Scotland is relatively localised in its input and sales interaction pattern, although substantial variations, associated with product specialisms, remoteness/accessibility, input purchasing and marketing strategies, exist. Localised SMEs have weathered the recession slightly better, but more outward-looking in firms tend to have greater optimism about the future. Transaction footprint analysis should be viewed as component of an ongoing process of re-mapping the network infrastructure of the rural economy, alongside analysis of untraded interdependencies, and institutional networks in the realm of governance.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Ageing in an increasingly smart world : an ethnography of ageing at home with smart and assistive devices

With increasing desires to live at home for longer and have more control of one's healthcare, coupled with rises in smart technology use and affordability, the drive for healthcare smart homes (HSH) from certain policymakers and technologists, particularly in rural communities, has heightened. These digitalised homes aim to enable older people to live independently at home for longer and potentially improve their wellbeing through the use of smart and assistive technologies. Much of the existing literature on the impacts of HSH living is from: healthcare or technocentric domains; shorter term or 'laboratory' settings with individual residents rather than more in-depth research including the wider networks. Furthermore, there is increasing development of DIY versions of HSH (i.e. portable smart and assistive devices gathered by the resident and their wider caring networks to be used in their homes, rather than a tailor-made HSH). Thus, in this thesis I use multiple ethnographic methods (visual, traditional and autoethnographic methods) to explore the longer-term experiences of five older people, and their wider caring networks, living within DIY HSH. I draw on theories and concepts relating to bricolage, dramaturgy, and simulations to explore the experiences of a sense of home, identity formation and future planning within DIY HSH living. I argue there are multiple (and potentially competing) experiences of DIY HSH living concerning sense of home, identity and envisioning the future. This range of experiences is connected to various levels and types of access to devices and technical support (what I term 'vertical noir hierarchies'), and the experiences and motivations of the wider caring networks. Ultimately, through use of multi-modal ethnographic methods and a new conceptual framework, I highlight that a singular experience of DIY HSH living is impossible. This is illustrated through understanding the (often conflicting) experiences of both older DIY HSH residents and their wider caring networks, and their types and levels of access to DIY HSH devices."This PhD was completed in joint-collaboration and supervision with the Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, via the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science."--Statement on collaborations and fundin

Digital life as a cabaret, old chum : a dramaturgical analysis of older digitalised home residents and their wider caring networks

The paper was written as part of Economic and Social Research Council funded PhD.The use of smart and assistive devices for remote healthcare monitoring is becoming increasingly popular for older people in their homes. However, the lived and long-term experiences of such technology, for the older residents and their wider caring networks remains unclear. Using in-depth qualitative data collected between June 2019 and January 2020 from older people living in their own homes in rural Scotland, we highlight that although such monitoring could improve the experiences of older people and their wider caring networks, this may create additional care and surveillance. We employ the concept of dramaturgy, which understands society to be a stage on which actors perform, allowing us to explore how different residents and their networks make sense of their experiences with domestic healthcare monitoring. We found that some digitalised devices may reduce the degree to which older people and their wider caring networks can live authentic and truly independent lifestyles.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Working with community researchers to enhance rural community engagement around Private Water Supplies: an exploration of the benefits and challenges

Funding: CREW: Scotland's centre of expertise for waters; the Scottish Government's Strategic Research Programme (2016-2021).This project employed community researchers as a means of improving community engagement around their Private Water Supplies (PWS) in rural Scotland. In this paper, we reflect on working with community researchers in terms of the benefits and challenges of the approach for future rural research that seeks to improve community engagement. The paper (1) critiques the involvement of community researchers for rural community engagement, drawing on the experiences in this project and (2) provides suggestions for good practice for working with community researchers in rural communities’ research. We offer some context in terms of the role of community members in research, the importance of PWS, our approach to community researchers, followed by the methodological approach and findings and our conclusions to highlight that community researchers can be beneficial for enhancing community engagement, employability, and social capital. Future community researcher approaches need to be fully funded to ensure core researchers can fulfil their duty of care, which should not stop when data collection is finished. Community researchers need to be supported in two main ways: as continuing faces of the project after the official project end date and to transfer their newly acquired skills to future employment opportunitiesPublisher PDFPeer reviewe

New knowledge networks of small-scale farmers in Europe’s periphery

Funding for this research was provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 311994, and the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2011–2016).In this paper we assess the types of knowledge networks utilised by small-scale farmers in four case studies (located in Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom). We focus on knowledge acquired to inform three new activities being undertaken by study participants: agricultural production, subsidy access and regulatory compliance, and farm diversification (specifically agritourism). Findings demonstrate that the new knowledge networks are dominated by different forms of expertise: formal ‘agricultural advisors’ identified in the case studies primarily offer codified managerial knowledge through centralised networks, suggesting that state-funded services for small-scale farmers are largely embedded in traditional, linear models of knowledge transfer. Production and diversification knowledge is exchanged through ‘distributed’ and ‘decentralised’ networks, where a range of actors are involved across varying geographical distances. Findings highlight issues associated with the quality and independence of both ‘free’ and paid advice, as well as the importance of combining tacit and codified knowledge for credibility. In all four cases, we found that small-scale farmers utilise formal advisory services primarily for accessing subsidies (e.g. completing application forms), rather than acquiring production knowledge. The authors argue that by utilising the state funding allocated to advisory services for small-scale farmers primarily to enable these farmers to access subsidies, important opportunities for innovation by both advisors or farmers can be lost.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Head and Neck Cancer: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines, Sixth Edition.

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Ageing in an increasingly smart world : an ethnography of ageing at home with smart and assistive devices

With increasing desires to live at home for longer and have more control of one's healthcare, coupled with rises in smart technology use and affordability, the drive for healthcare smart homes (HSH) from certain policymakers and technologists, particularly in rural communities, has heightened. These digitalised homes aim to enable older people to live independently at home for longer and potentially improve their wellbeing through the use of smart and assistive technologies. Much of the existing literature on the impacts of HSH living is from: healthcare or technocentric domains; shorter term or 'laboratory' settings with individual residents rather than more in-depth research including the wider networks. Furthermore, there is increasing development of DIY versions of HSH (i.e. portable smart and assistive devices gathered by the resident and their wider caring networks to be used in their homes, rather than a tailor-made HSH). Thus, in this thesis I use multiple ethnographic methods (visual, traditional and autoethnographic methods) to explore the longer-term experiences of five older people, and their wider caring networks, living within DIY HSH. I draw on theories and concepts relating to bricolage, dramaturgy, and simulations to explore the experiences of a sense of home, identity formation and future planning within DIY HSH living. I argue there are multiple (and potentially competing) experiences of DIY HSH living concerning sense of home, identity and envisioning the future. This range of experiences is connected to various levels and types of access to devices and technical support (what I term 'vertical noir hierarchies'), and the experiences and motivations of the wider caring networks. Ultimately, through use of multi-modal ethnographic methods and a new conceptual framework, I highlight that a singular experience of DIY HSH living is impossible. This is illustrated through understanding the (often conflicting) experiences of both older DIY HSH residents and their wider caring networks, and their types and levels of access to DIY HSH devices