Below are the publications that have been produced from our research on the rural economy and rural communities projects. This list will be updated with other outputs, including those from related projects.
Report: Piras, S., & Williams, I. (2025). Results of choice experiment surveys on Places to Live, Ways to Travel, and Local Food (Version V3). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17777466. Summary: This report presents the results of discrete choice experiment surveys and focus group discussions conducted within the project “Informing a socially and spatially just future for the Scottish rural economy: Pinpointing opportunities, assets and support needs.” The report explores Scottish people’s preferences between rural (or urban) localities as potential places of residence; preferences for different ways to travel in rural areas, including one’s own vehicle, bicycle, and public transport; and preferences for food products, namely different vegetable mixes that can be produced in Scotland’s rural areas.
Digital Poster: Miller, S., Wilson, R., Noble, C., Currie, M., Pinker, A., Creaney, R., Shortall, O., Roxburgh, N., Premarathne, M., Bender, F. (2025). What are Living Labs and how can they enable change in rural communities? The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen. https://sefari.scot/sites/www.sefari.scot/files/2025-10/RESAS%20ENRA%20Science%20and%20Policy%20Conference%20-%20JHI%20Living%20Labs%20031025_sophie%20miller.pdf. Summary: This poster provides an introduction to our work with eight communities across rural and island Scotland (2022-27) to understand the lived experiences of residents and businesses, and highlights key findings from the Living Labs and impacts in Tiree and Hoy.
Report: Hopkins, J., Schulz, L., Roxburgh, N., & McKeen, M. (2025). Spatial analysis of economic opportunities and outcomes in rural Scotland: an assets-based approach. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17477442. Summary: we have created and analysed a novel and spatially detailed dataset of demographic and economic outcomes and diverse assets which can, through further analysis, support economic opportunities and development in rural areas.
Report: Marshall, A., Bender, F., Hopkins, J., & Piras, S. (2025). A review of the policy and economic landscape in rural Scotland: informing plausible and aspirational scenarios. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17144130. Summary: this piece of work uses the DEPEST (Demography, Economy, Policy and Governance, Environment, Society, Technology) framework to identify critical drivers of rural change in Scotland which are described within recent peer-reviewed literature and technical reports.
Report: Bender, F., Marshall, A., Hopkins, J., & Piras, S. (2025). Key Findings: A review of the policy and economic landscape in rural Scotland: informing plausible scenarios. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17143769. Summary: this document is a summary of the fuller literature review noted above, identifying critical drivers of rural change in Scotland.
Digital Poster: Piras, S. (2025). Scottish residents' preferences for places to live. What services and place characteristics matter most? (Version V1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17822487. Summary: This digital poster was presented at the ENRA (Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture) Science, Evidence and Policy Conference 2025, Edinburgh, 30 September 2025.
Data set: Piras, S., & Chen, J. (2025). Datasets of choice experiment surveys on Places to Live, Ways to Travel, and Local Food conducted in Scotland (Version V1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17749439. Summary: Two datasets derived from discrete choice experiment (DCE) surveys, and the text of the questionnaires, conducted with Scottish dwellers to investigate their preferences respectively for (a) different localities as Places to Live; (b) different means of transport as Ways to Travel; (c) different vegetables mixes as Local Food.
Report: Piras, S., Kapour, G., Li, K., & Mzek, T. (2025). Choice experiment protocols for the project "Informing a socially and spatially just future for the Scottish rural economy" (Version V1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17751131. Summary: A protocol for running discrete choice experiment (DCE) surveys among Scottish rural (and, where relevant, urban) dwellers to investigate their preferences respectively for (a) different localities as Places to Live; (b) different means of transport as Ways to Travel; (c) different vegetables mixes as Local Food.
Infographic: Creaney, R., & Wooldridge, T. (2024). Scotland's Rural and Island Housing: Stakeholder Insights. James Hutton Institute. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14039190. Summary: Infographic of associated policy brief on Scotland's rural and island housing (see below publication).
Policy Brief: Creaney, R., & Wooldridge, T. (2024). Scotland's rural and island housing: A briefing of key policies, challenges and opportunities. James Hutton Institute. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14039170. Summary: This short policy brief highlights the findings from a review of current policies and expert interviews around rural and island housing in Scotland (hereto referred to as rural housing). This work was carried out between July 2023 and July 2024.
Note: Currie, M., Hopkins, J., Wilson, R., Farinelli et al., V. (2023). Cost of Living Crisis in Remote and Rural Areas in Scotland. The James Hutton Institute. committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/123046/default/. Summary: Researchers at the James Hutton Institute were asked to provide evidence to the UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis in remote, rural and island areas of Scotland.
Report: Hopkins, J., Farinelli, V., & Wilson, R. (2023). Rural assets enabling a wellbeing-focused economic recovery: an inventory to inform data collection and analysis. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8121405. Summary: A report summarising a framework for structuring data collection on the assets of rural areas, in order to improve our understanding of the Scottish rural economy and its diversity. This constitutes Deliverable 1.1.1 of the project 'Informing a socially and spatially just future for the Scottish rural economy: pinpointing opportunities, assets and support needs'.
Data and code: Jonathan Hopkins, & Valentina Farinelli. (2022). Data and code for reproducing analysis in 'Producing indicative allocations for Community Led Local Development funding in Scotland (2022-23)' (Version 1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7418990. Summary: The data and code in this folder can be used to reproduce work used to generate indicative allocations of Community Led Local Development funding (2022-23) to 21 Local Action Group (LAG) areas in Scotland. It accompanies a note ('Producing indicative allocations for Community Led Local Development funding in Scotland (2022-23)', https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7418862) providing an overview of the analysis and its key outputs.
Summary Note: Jonathan Hopkins, & Valentina Farinelli. (2022). Producing indicative allocations for Community Led Local Development funding in Scotland (2022-23). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7418862. Summary: This note provides a short summary of analysis which was undertaken at the James Hutton Institute to distribute funding (£11.6m in total, £7.6m of which was allocated by this analysis) which was made available for Community Led Local Development (CLLD) in 2022-23 in Scotland.