Skip to main content
Centre for Rural Economy
Search for something
Search...

Staff Profile

Emeritus Professor Mark Shucksmith OBE

Emeritus Professor of Planning

Background

Introduction


Mark Shucksmith is Deputy Chair of the Carnegie UK Trust, Emeritus Professor of Planning at Newcastle University, where he was also Director of the Institute for Social Renewal, and Visiting Professor at Ruralis, Trondheim. His research focuses on social exclusion in rural areas, rural housing and rural development. He is the author or co-author of 18 books (including the Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies) and over 110 learned papers, as well as coordinating several EU research projects. His latest books are, Rural Poverty Today: experiences of social exclusion in rural Britain (Policy Press, 2023) and Rethinking Rural Studies (Elgar, 2024).  Mark recently served as Specialist Adviser to two House of Lords Select Committees, a role he previously performed in the Scottish Parliament. He was Chair of the Scottish Government’s Committee of Inquiry into Crofting (2007-08) and a Board member of England’s Countryside Agency and Commission for Rural Communities (2005-13), as well as directing the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Action in Rural Areas programme. He has also been a Board member of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and of Rural Forum Scotland. Mark was Vice President of the International Rural Sociological Association (2004-08) and Programme Chair for the XI World Rural Sociology Congress in Trondheim, Norway in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust and of the Macaulay Development Trust. He was awarded the honour of OBE in 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.


Emeritus Professor, formerly Professor of Planning, Newcastle University, 2005-2023.

OBE 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.

Deputy Chair,, Carnegie UK Trust, and Trustee since 2016. www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk

Trustee, Macaulay Development Trust, 2022-  www.macaulaydevelopmenttrust.org

Trustee, Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), 2014-2022. http://www.acre.org.uk/ 

Board member representing England, European Rural Community Alliance ruralcommunities.eu 2021-24 

Keynote speaker and Guest of Honour, Dutch Royal Palace Symposium, Amsterdam, 2017 http://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en/palace/symposia/

FAcSS 2010; FRSA 2015.

Specialist Advisor, House of Lords Select Committee on Rural Economy, 2018-19.

Specialist Advisor, House of Lords Select Committee on Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, 2017-18

Director, Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal, 2012-18. www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal  

Chair, Scottish Government's Committee of Inquiry into Crofting, 2007-08. http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20150211030111/http://www.croftinginquiry.org/

Commissioner, Commission for Rural Communities, 2005-2013. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110303145243/http://ruralcommunities.gov.uk

Stakeholder Board, Rural England, 2013- http://ruralengland.org/stakeholders/

Visiting Professor, Ruralis/ Centre for Rural Research, Trondheim. http://www.bygdeforskning.no/en/about-crr

Vice-President, International Rural Sociology Association, 2004-08. http://www.irsa-world.org/

Chair, Scientific Committee, European Society for Rural Sociology, 2014-15. http://www.ruralsociology.eu/

Adviser, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1995-2005.

Member of Affordable Rural Housing Commission (DCLG/DEFRA), 2005-06.

Executive Committee, European Society for Rural Sociology, 2009-13.

Executive Committee, International Rural Sociology Association, 2000-08 and 2012-16.

Selection Committee, Scottish Land Commission, 2016

Programme Chair, World Rural Sociology Congress, Trondheim 2004.

Expert Adviser to Scottish Parliament’s ERAD Committee, until 2004.

NE Selection Committee for LEADER 2007-13.

Roles and Responsibilities

Chair, Committee of Inquiry into Crofting, 2007-08. See www.croftinginquiry.org

Commissioner, Commission for Rural Communities (formerly Countryside Agency), 2005-2013. See www.defra.gov.uk/crc  

Member, Affordable Rural Housing Commission, 2005-06.

Co-Chair, Wellbeing Roundtable, North of Tyne Combined Authority/ Carnegie UK Trust, 2021-22

Member, Inclusive Economy Board, North of Tyne Combined Authority 2020-

Chair, Borderlands Place Programme Board, 2021-

Qualifications

MA (Cantab.), MSc (Ncle), PhD (Ncle).

Previous Positions

Director, Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal, 2012-18.

Director, Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research, University of Aberdeen, 1995-2004

Professor of Land Economy, University of Aberdeen, 1993-2004. (Acting Head 2000-01)

Co-Director, Scottish Centre for Research in Social Justice (Glasgow & Aberdeen) 2001-04.

Programme Adviser, Joseph Rowntree Foundation “Action in Rural Areas”.

Formerly Vice-Chairman and Council member, Rural Forum (Scotland).

Programme Chair, World Rural Sociology Congress, Trondheim, 2004.

Coordinator of EU research project on Policies and Young People in Rural Development.

Coordinator of EU research project on the Role of Social Capital in Rural Development

Coordinator of EU ESPON project on the Territorial Impact of the CAP and RDP.

Expert Adviser to the Scottish Parliament’s Environment & Rural Development Committee.

Member of the English National Selection Committee for the EU’s LEADER .

Memberships

Executive Committee, International Rural Sociology Association, 2000-08 and 2012-16.

Executive Committee, European Society for Rural Sociology, 2009-2013.

Honours and Awards

OBE for services to rural development and crofting, 2009. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/guru/news/item/professor-mark-shucksmith-has-been-awarded-an-obe-for-services-to-rural-development-and-crofting

Newcastle University Academic Distinction Award 2023

Newcastle University Engagement and Place Award for Engagement with Policy and Practice 2023

Carnegie Fellow 2015 http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/who-we-are/fellows-and-associates

Fellow, Royal Society of Arts, 2015

Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences, 2010.

Macaulay Lecturer, 2008. www.macaulay.ac.uk/MacaulayLecture/2008/ 

First Vice-President, International Rural Sociology Association, 2004-08

Programme Chair, World Congress of Rural Sociology, Trondheim, 2004.

Agricultural Economics Society Essay Prize, 1978.

Research

Research Interests

Research interests include: poverty and social exclusion in rural areas, wellbeing, rural development, and affordable rural housing.


Another new book, 'Rethinking Rural Studies' with David Brown will be published by Elgar in September 2024. Rethinking Rural Studies (e-elgar.com)


New book: Rural Poverty Today: Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain,.Policy Press | Rural Poverty Today - Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain, By Mark Shucksmith, Jayne Glass, Polly Chapman and Jane Atterton (bristoluniversitypress.co.uk) This derives from the Rural Lives research project, funded by the Standard Life Foundation with additional funding from RCUK, working with Polly Chapman, Jane Atterton and Jayne Glass. The project's findings have previously been summarised in the form of two short, accessible reports, published free online:

  • Rural Lives: understanding financial hardship and vulnerability in rural areas
  • Covid-19, lockdown and financial hardship in rural areas

Both reports may be downloaded from, and details may be found a, www.rurallives.co.uk

Our most recent paper, is published open access in the Scottish Geographical Journal:: Full article: Rural lives during COVID-19: crisis, resilience and redistributing societal risk (tandfonline.com)


I also work with Esperanza Vera-Toscano, David Brown and Heather Brown on the dynamics of rural poverty in Britain, using longitudinal data from the BHPS and Understanding Society Survey. Our most recent papers were published in Regional Studies and the Journal of Rural Studies. Full article: The rural–urban poverty gap in England after the 2008 financial crisis: exploring the effects of budgetary cuts and welfare reforms (tandfonline.com)


Celebrating 30 years of LEADER: looking back, looking forward. Keynote address to Ireland's National Rural Network  https://477341-1500199-raikfcquaxqncofqfm.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Keynote-Address-%E2%80%93-Professor-Mark-Shucksmith.pdf 

I recently co-edited (with Josef Bernard, Sandra Contzen and Anja Decker) a special issue of Sociologia Ruralis on Poverty and Social Exclusion in Diversified Rural Contexts.

In April 2021 I co-edited Hope under Neoliberal Austerity: responses from civil society and civic universities with Mel Steer, Simin Davoudi and Liz Todd (Policy Press) 

I recently co-edited the Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies (with David L. Brown) published in May 2016 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Routledge-International-Handbook-Studies-Handbooks/dp/1138804371

Earlier Books include:

'Rural Transformations and Rural Policies in the UK and US' (Routledge 2012); 'Comparing Rural Development - Continuity and Change in the Countryside of Western Europe' (Ashgate 2008), 'CAP and the Regions' (CABI 2005), 'Young People In Rural Europe' (Ashgate 2004), 'Housing In the European Countryside' (Routledge 2003) (all jointly edited), ‘Exclusive Countryside? Social Inclusion and Regeneration in Rural Britain’ (JRF 2000); 'Poverty and Exclusion in Rural Britain' (YPS 1998); 'Rural Scotland Today: the best of both worlds ?' (Avebury 1996) (both jointly authored); 'Housebuilding in Britain's Countryside' (Routledge 1990), and 'No Homes for Locals?' (Gower 1981)..

Research reports include:

Learning from European Rural Movements: research to inform a Scottish approach (SRUC: Jayne Glass, Jane Atterton, Mark Shucksmith, 2022) Learning from European Rural Movements: Research to inform a Scottish approach — SRUC, Scotland's Rural College

InterAction: How the third sector and academics can work together to influence policy and practice, Carnegie UK Trust, 2016. http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/publications/interaction/

Territorial Dimensions of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe (TIPSE) Andrew Copus et al., 2014. http://www.espon.eu/main/Menu_Projects/Menu_AppliedResearch/tipse.html

Future Directions in Rural Development, Carnegie UK Trust, Sept 2012. http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/news---events/latest/carnegie-uk-trust-warns-of--two-speed--rural-econo

How to Promote the Role of Youth in Rural Europe: report to European Parliament, Nov 2010. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/studies/download.do?language=en&file=33746

European Development Opportunities for Rural Areas (EDORA) Andrew Copus et al, Sept 2010. http://www.espon.eu/main/Menu_Projects/Menu_AppliedResearch/edora.html

European Quality of Life Survey: Rural-Urban Differences (European Foundation 2007)

Homes For Rural Communities (JRF 2006)

The Territorial Impact of the CAP (EU ESPON 2004),

The Role of Social Capital in Rural Development (EU 2004),

Social Exclusion in Rural Areas (Scottish Executive 2000), Disadvantage in Rural Areas (Rural Development Commission 1997), Review of Scottish Homes’ Rural Policy (Scottish Homes 1996), and Classification of Rural Housing Markets in England & Wales (HMSO 1995).

Recent articles have appeared in Contemporary Social Science, Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, Local Economy, Regional Studies, European Planning Studies, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Social Policy and Administration, Community Development Journal, Studies in Agricultural Economics, and Belgeo.

Edited and coordinated The Rural Audit (June 1999) for the rural group of Labour MPs.

Other Expertise

Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into Crofting, established by Ministers on 12 December 2006. See www.croftinginquiry.org and the Government's response announced on 1st October 2008: www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/10/01145359

Secretary to Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Rural Housing Policy Forum, and author of its report 'Homes For Rural Communities'. See www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubid=781

Adviser to JRF on rural issues since 1995 and Programme Director for their "Action in Rural Areas" programme.

Expert in the OECD rural policy review of Finland; and in the OECD's Rurban project.

Current and Recent Work

Partner in the RELOCAL H2020 Project (Resituating the Local in Cohesion and Territorial Development) 2016-2020 https://relocal.eu/

Partner in the ACCOMPLISSH H2020 Project (Accelerate co-creation by setting up a multi-actor platform for impact from social sciences and humanities) 2016-2019. https://www.accomplissh.eu/

Partner in the ESPON TIPSE project (Territorial Impact of Poverty and Social Exclusion), 2012-14. https://www.espon.eu/programme/projects/espon-2013/applied-research/tipse-territorial-dimension-poverty-and-social

Recently chaired Committee of Inquiry into Crofting for the Scottish Government. The Committee's report was the basis for the Crofting Reform Act 2010 and for various other changes to policy. (Now translated into Japanese)

Recent coordinator of 4 EU projects involving ten countries studying the Territorial Impact of the Common Agricultural Policy and rural development policy (460,000 euros, 2002-4); the role of social capital in rural development (1.2m euros, 2001-4); young people in rural development (580,000 euros, 1999-2001); and rural development in the northern periphery of Europe (191,000 euros, 1999-2001). Recently reviewed rural policy in Finland for OECD; and the role of youth in rural Europe for the European Parliament.

Two other recently completed research projects are:

 - European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas (EDORA), funded by ESPON for 2 years. This project will develop a typology of rural areas across the EU and outline appropriate policies for each type.

- Territorial Impact of Transport and Agricultural Policies (TIPTAP), funded by ESPON for 1 year. This project will develop a methodology for EU territorial impact assessment, and will apply this to the EU's transport and agricultural policies

Latest Research

Rural Policy after Brexit, Contemporary Social Science, 2019. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21582041.2018.1558279


Social Inequalities in Rural England: Impacts on Young People Post-2008, Journal of Rural Studies, 2019. (with Niki Black and Karen Scott) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016717312767?via%3Dihub

Reconsidering territorial governance to account for enhanced rural-urban interdependence in America, Annals of the American Association for Political and Social Science, 672, 1, 282-301. July 2017 (with David Brown). http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716217706495

Re-imagining the rural: from rural idyll to Good Countryside, Journal of Rural Studies, 2016. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016716301632 

Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies, 2016 (edited with David Brown, 698pp) https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-International-Handbook-of-Rural-Studies/Shucksmith-Brown/p/book/9781138804371 

InterAction: How the third sector and academics can work together to influence policy and practice, 2016. http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/publications/interaction/

Class, Power and Inequality in Rural Areas: Beyond Social Exclusion, Sociologia Ruralis, 2012. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2012.00570.x/abstract 

Rural Transformations and Rural Policies in the US and UK, Routledge, New York, 2012. (edited jointly with David Brown, Sally Shortall, Jo Vergunst and Mildred Warner) 

Future Directions in Rural Development, Carnegie UK Trust, 2012. http://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/publications/future-directions-in-rural-development-full-report/

The Uplands after Neo-Liberalism? The role of small farms in rural sustainability, Journal of Rural Studies, 2011 (with Katrina Ronningen). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016711000222 

Planning for housing in rural England: Discursive power and spatial exclusion. Town Planning Review 2011, (with John Sturzaker)

How to promote the role of youth in rural areas of Europe? European Parliament PE 438.620, Nov 2010. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/studies/download.do?language=en&file=33746

Research Roles

former Director of Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal, 2012-18. www.ncl.ac.uk/socialrenewal 

former Director of Research, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University.

Co-ordinated ESRC Seminar Series on New Rural Economies, with six meetings during 2005-06 in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Newcastle.

former Co-Director of the Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research, University of Aberdeen, 1995-2004. Publications and other material may still be available at www.abdn.ac.uk/itrr/arkleton/index.shtml

former Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice. More information 2001-04 www.scrsj.ac.uk/

Postgraduate Supervision

I have successfully supervised more than 15 PhDs.

Current PhD students: Catherine Corcoran, Hannah Budge. 

Esteem Indicators

OBE 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.

Keynote Speaker and Guest of Honour, Dutch Royal Palace Symposium, Amsterdam, 2017, hosted by King Wilem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands http://www.paleisamsterdam.nl/en/palace/symposia/

Who's Who:            2007 onwards.

Debrett's People of Today: 2007 onwards.

Who's Who in Scotland:   1998 onwards.

Specialist Advisor to two House of Lords Select Committees: Rural Economy (2018-19); NERC Act (2017-18)

Carnegie Fellow 2015-16

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 2015

Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences, 2010.

32nd T.B.Macaulay Lecture, 2008.

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Peter Wilson Memorial Lecture, 2006, 

First Vice President, International Rural Sociology Association, 2004-08.

Chair, Committee of Inquiry into Crofting, 2006-08.

Commissioner, Commission for Rural Communities, 2005-12.

Visiting Professor, Centre for Rural Research, Trondheim, 2005-08.

Adviser, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, since 1995.

Visiting Fellow (invited) to Polson Institute for Global Development, Cornell University, 2002, and Waseda University, Tokyo, 2005.

Member, DEFRA/DCLG Affordable Rural Housing Commission, 2005/06.

Specialist Adviser to RAE2008 Sub-Panel for Town & Country Planning.

European Commission's Expert Panel on Territorial Cohesion, 2008.

Refereeing articles for a large number of learned journals.

Assessor for professorial posts at universities in UK, US and EU.

Referee for research councils and funding bodies in several countries.

External examiner at numerous Universities in UK and Ireland.

Invited keynote speaker at many international conferences.

Appeared before Canadian Senate Inquiry into Rural Poverty, 2008.

Funding

SELECTED RECENT RESEARCH GRANTS:

1997-2005 Joseph Rowntree Foundation : programme adviser, Action In Rural Areas. See press release and links to publications at www.abdn.ac.uk/itrr/arkleton/documents/pr0727.doc and www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubID=287

1998-2001 EU FAIR (Coordinator): Policies and Young People in Rural Development - PAYPIRD (582,000 euros, ie £ 407k). More information about this project, publications and other outputs may be found and downloaded from www.abdn.ac.uk/itrr/arkleton/publications/paypird.shtml

1998 Scottish Office Education Department: Pre-School Education in Rural Areas (£ 45k) (with Janet Shucksmith, Joyce Watt and Andrew Copus)

1999-2001 EU Northern Periphery Programme (Coordinator): Rural Development in the Northern Peripheries of Scotland and Scandinavia (191,000 euros, ie £ 134k). More information is available from www.abdn.ac.uk/itrr/arkleton/npp/

1999 Scottish Executive : Social Exclusion in Rural Areas, (£10k)

1999 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: The Future of the Countryside (£ 10k)

2000 Scottish Parliament: Adviser and Research Support to the Rural Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into the Impact of Employment Change on Rural Scotland (£15k) (with colleagues at Aberdeen)

2001-04 EU FAIR (Coordinator) : Restructuring in Marginal Rural Areas: The Role of Social Capital in Rural Development - RESTRIM (1.2m euros, ie £ 756k). More information in savailable at www.abdn.ac.uk/itrr/arkleton/RESTRIM/about.hti

2001-04 SHEFC: Co-Director, Scottish Centre for Research in Social Justice (£783k, jointly with the Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow). See www.scrsj.ac.uk

2002-04 EU ESPON: (Coordinator) : The Teritorial Impact of the Common Agricultural Policy and Rural Development Policy. (460,000 euros, ie. £290k.) See www.espon.eu

2002-04 Scottish Parliament: Expert Adviser on the Budget Scrutiny.

2002-06 ESRC Seminar Series: A Research Agenda for the New Rural Economies: Building Researcher- User Alliances across the Devolved Administrations (£22k), with Philip Lowe and Terry Marsden.

2003 Countryside Agency/ DEFRA/ ESRC: A Review of Recent Research on Social Exclusion In Rural England (£6k). See www.defra.gov.uk/rural/pdfs/research/social_excl_lit_review.pdf

2004-6 EU Commission FP6: A Cognitive Approach to Rural Sustainable Development - the dynamics of expert and lay knowledges (CORASON), (€90,600, ie. £61k)

2005-06 European Foundation: Quality of Life in Rural Europe (€45,000) See www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef0663.htm

2007-09 Academy of Finland: New Rural Governance in Diffused Power Contexts (€220,000, with Torsti Hyyrylainen and others)

2008-10 ESPON: European Development Opportunities in Rural Areas (EDORA), Policy Research Coordinator. (Coordinated by Andrew Copus)

2008-09 ESPON: Territorial Impact of Transport and Agricultural Policies (TIPTAP), with Guy Garrod. (Coordinated by Roberto Camagni)

2012-14 ESPON: Territorial Impact of Poverty and Social Exclusion (TIPSE). (Coordinated by Petri Kahila and Andrew Copus). 

2016-19 H2020 ACCOMPLISSH: Accelerating co-creation by setting up a multi-actor platform for impact from social sciences and humanities. (Co-ordinated by Sharon Smit, Groningen University)

2016-2020 H2020 RELOCAL: Resituating the Local in Cohesion and Territorial Development (Coordinated by James Scott, Finland)

2019-2021 Standard Life Foundation: On The Margins: an evidence base for tackling financial hardship in rural areas

2020-21 RCUK QR-SPF: On The Margins: informing evidence-based policy on rural poverty in post-Covid Britain

Industrial Relevance

Chair of the Committee on the Future of Crofting, which was asked to advise Ministers on any necessary changes in laws, regulations, grants or administration which will allow crofting to contribute most effectively to sustainable rural development in the future. www.croftinginquiry.org 

The Government's response was announced in the Scottish Parliament on 1st October 2008: www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/10/01145359 This formed the basis for the Crofting Reform Act 2010, and for various reforms to policies, grant schemes and administrations.

Chair, North of Tyne Combined Authority Wellbeing Roundtable, 2021.

Board member, North of Tyne Combined Authority Inclusive Economy Board, 2020-

Advice and support to Matthew Taylor Review of rural economy and affordable housing, "Living Working Countryside", 2008.

Briefing paper on Rural Economy to the Adonis Review (Independent Economic Review of NE England). 

Specialist Advisor to House of Lords Select Committee on Rural Economy.

Patents

None

Teaching

Now retired, but continuing to co-supervise PhD students.

Publications