Rural Policy Centre

Our Rural Policy Centre is a knowledge hub for rural Scotland. We engage and collaborate with researchers, businesses and communities to exchange ideas, share experiences and contribute evidence-based research to rural policy in Scotland.

Scroll down to discover more

Our Rural Policy Centre is a knowledge hub for rural Scotland.

We engage and collaborate with researchers, businesses and communities to exchange ideas, share experiences and contribute evidence-based research to rural policy in Scotland.

Check out our latest research briefing, policy spotlights, and podcast episodes:

For more information on our research or outputs, or to learn more about what we do, please contact us.

Rural policy resources

We examine the impact of policies on rural businesses and communities to provide knowledge for future policy development. Our research briefings and policy summaries share valuable and straightforward insights on the big issues affecting rural lives.

Learn more

Rural policy projects

We aim to inform the development of future policies by gathering evidence and sharing knowledge. Our research projects focus on a range of issues of importance to the sustainability and resilience of Scotland's rural and island communities and businesses.

Learn more

Rural policy events

We organise virtual and in-person events to discuss rural topics, highlight rural policy issues and facilitate connections amongst stakeholders. We welcome any collaborations and suggestions for future events.

Learn more

Have your say

The Rural Policy Centre is Secretariat for the Cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on Rural Policy, which on a quarterly basis.

Cross-party groups include MSPs from across the Scottish Parliament and are open for everyone to attend that lives, works or has an interest in rural Scotland and beyond.

We’d love it if you could join us at a meeting to have your say on the issues affecting you.

Find out more

Connect with us

Through our work we aim to improve the quantity and quality of evidence and expand upon the knowledge base about rural Scotland. The work we do informs the development of future policies by raising the profile of issues affecting our rural communities.

Contact us

The Rural Policy Centre is a knowledge hub for rural Scotland. We engage with rural communities as well as consultant, educators and researchers across SRUC to harness the latest rural knowledge.

Meet the team

Get to know our friendly rural policy specialists and find out how to contact us.

Join us on Twitter

Join the conversation on the Rural Policy Centre Twitter page.

Go to Twitter

New project to map landowners in Scotland

With concentration of landownership in Scotland the highest in Europe, new research aims to understand whether recent land transactions are leading to - and fuelled by - land use change, such as towards achieving net zero.

£100k research project to explore agricultural policy impacts on island communities

SRUC has been awarded a £100k research grant to gather the views of island communities in Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides on the forthcoming agricultural and land use policy changes.

Scotland Praised by the OECD in a new report on rural innovation

A new report by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) praising the innovation of rural Scotland was launched this week.

Talking hemp – the super crop

A new podcast, released today by Scotland’s Rural College’s Rural Policy Centre, looks at why so few farmers are currently growing hemp in Scotland.

Equality, Opportunity, Community: What does it mean for Scotland’s rural communities?

If the First Minister is to achieve his ambition of delivering a wellbeing economy which is ‘fair, green and growing’, policies need to deliver for rural and island Scotland as much as they do for urban Scotland. Read more from our Rural Policy Centre's response to the Scottish Government's Programme for Government 2023-24 here.

Lost in translation? Insights from an international approach to rural issues at ESRS 2023

Dr Ana Vuin, a Research Fellow with the Rural Policy Centre, shares her experience of attending The European Society for Rural Sociology’s biennial congress in July 2023.