Staff
The Director of CRR
Dr Nick Evans
01905 855187 or email: n.evans@worc.ac.uk
Nick is a Principal Lecturer in Geography and Director of the CRR. His PhD examined farm-based tourism in three English counties. Nick is the CRR’s main researcher in agricultural and related environmental issues. He has completed projects for English Nature on Sites of Special Scientific Interest as well as the CAP beef regime and the impact of BSE. Work for the Countryside Council for Wales has assessed the biodiversity resources of Welsh domestic livestock. He has been an evaluator of The Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Entry-level Environmental Stewardship Scheme for DEFRA. Nick has directed two very successful county studies of agriculture in Herefordshire and Shropshire. He has further research interests in protected areas of the countryside, the changing landscape (including Landscape Character Assessment), the functioning of farm family businesses, the farming media and conservation grazing management.
Academic Staff
Dr Heather Barrett
01905 855191 or email: h.barrett@worc.ac.uk
Heather is a Senior Lecturer in Geography and also teaches on the Archaeology and Heritage Studies degree program. Her PhD examined the conservation of the built environment. Particular interests include market towns, settlement morphology and landscape symbolism, urban and building conservation planning and the gendering of space. She has applied her research skills in a rural context through studies of the impacts of out-of-town shopping centres on the economy of small towns, the economic impact of Foot and Mouth Disease in Worcestershire, the use of ‘greenspaces’ and the link between rural deprivation and child-care provision in Bromyard.
Dr David Storey
01905 855189 or email: d.storey@worc.ac.uk
David is a Senior Lecturer in Geography with research expertise on migration, socio-economic change, rural development policies, and issues of place and identity. He has investigated the utilisation of community-based partnership responses to developmental problems in rural areas in both Ireland and Britain, as well as the use of local heritage in rural place promotion. Work has been undertaken for a range of local authorities and voluntary bodies in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Recent work includes a survey of environmental issues in Cleobury Mortimer, the evaluation of drugs outreach services in Leominster, social exclusion in Worcestershire and urban-rural interdependence in the West Midlands.
Senior Fellow
Dr Peter Carruthers
01905 8551873 or email: p.carruthers@worc.ac.uk
Peter is a Senior Fellow in the CRR, seconded from the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), for whom he continues to act as Expert Advisor on land, farming and climate change matters. Immediately prior to his secondment to the University in April 2008, he was Programme Manager for ‘land and rural communities’ at the CRC, managing research on community impacts of field-scale polytunnels, the connections between rural people and the land, rural impacts of the 2007 summer floods, postmodernity and rural policy, and the ‘new land debate’. Peter is currently developing research interests in social, cultural and ethical aspects of land and countryside, the nature and resolution of land-use conflicts, and the future of the hills and uplands. He has experience of using ‘futures’ thinking and methods, and environmental life-cycle assessment, and has carried out extensive, pioneering research on biofuels, industrial crops and agroforestry.
Research Staff
In addition to academic lecturing staff, CRR employs its own full-time research officers. These well-qualified staff are dedicated to specific projects and are recruited for their knowledge of that topic and their experience of research techniques. It is not our usual policy to employ undergraduate students in this role unless specifically requested to do so. Our research officers ensure that clients have access to an efficient, reliable and friendly research service.
Katie Milburn
01905 855185 or email: k.milburn@worc.ac.uk
Katie is a full-time researcher in the CRR with a background in geography and conservation ecology. Katie’s research interests lie in rural resource management and evidence-based conservation. Katie has previously worked for the RSPB surveying birds on Shetland. She has also gained much hands-on experience of practical land management; volunteering as a Countryside Ranger in Cheshire and RSPB Reserve Warden in Somerset. During her time in the CRR, Katie has undertaken projects into the changing face of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in the West Midlands, involving extensive data collation and report formulation. She has assisted with research into visitor perceptions of recreational sites in Worcestershire, conducting on-site face-to-face visitor surveys at local nature reserves and SSSIs. Katie has also contributed to recent research into the land-use conflicts associated with rural communities and polytunnel horticulture.
Former Research Students
David Maund
Moving On: Migration From a Rural Area - Process and Decision After 1871. PhD awarded 2008.
David undertook a PhD degree examining migration patterns and processes in rural England in the late 19th century. His study is centred on a small group of parishes on the Herefordshire - Shropshire border. It draws on a wide range of source material which is analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Nicholas Bennett
The Role and Effectiveness of Parish Councils in Gloucestershire: Adapting to New Modes of Rural Community Governance. MPhil awarded 2006.
Nicholas undertook an MPhil degree exploring the role and effectiveness of parish councils based on fieldwork in Gloucestershire. His study utilises information derived from an extensive questionnaire survey and from interviews with parish council representatives.
Line Manager
Dr John Fagg
01905 8855181 or email: j.fagg@worc.ac.uk
John is Head of the Institute of Science and the Environment. He has completed a PhD and a number of contract research projects on economic development. John’s research interests are based on manufacturing change in urban and rural localities and new manufacturing firms in rural areas. He is currently undertaking an analysis of small firms in rural Herefordshire.
Administrative and Support Staff
Other staff within the Institute of Science and the Environment help CRR to function, contributing knowledge and experience which is vital in applied rural research. These include specialist geography technicians who can supply technical support, cartographical skills and assistance in the application of specialist software. Three key members of this team are:
Mrs Clare Smith - Academic Support Unit Manager
01905 855222 or email: c.smith@worc.ac.uk
Dr Anne Sinnott - Technical support/GIS
01905 855219 or email: a.sinnott@worc.ac.uk
James Atkins - Technical support
01905 852163 or email: j.atkins@worc.ac.uk
The CRR has the added advantage of being able to call upon expertise in other University Faculties as required.
Research Associates
Dr Richard Yarwood
01752 233083 or email: r.yarwood@plymouth.ac.uk
Richard is a Principal Lecturer in Geography at the University of Plymouth. Previously he worked at the University of Worcester for seven years. He has expertise in rural social geography, and particularly in rural policing.
Dr Ian Maddock
01905 855180 or email: i.maddock@worc.ac.uk
Ian is a Principal Lecturer in Geography and the CRR's principal researcher in hydrology and river management. His PhD examined aspects of conservation and river management, which has applied value for many of the agencies who have commissioned work with the CRR.
Dr Cheryl Jones
01905 855425 or email: c.jones@worc.ac.uk
Cheryl is a GIS specialist and Director of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark.
Dr Peter Alma
01905 855237 or email: p.alma@worc.ac.uk
Peter has extensive expertise in grassland and woodland ecology.
Dr Linda Price
02890 973394 or email: l.price@qub.ac.uk
Linda is a full-time Lecturer in Planning at Queen’s University, Belfast. Linda’s PhD, entitled “Stress in Agriculture: the Patriarchal Way of Life of Farm Families in Powys” allowed her to examine in-depth agrarian familial relationships.