HEAR A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE 

The Rural North: Landscapes of Endeavour and Inquiry

What is the rural economy? What are its intrinsic strengths and weaknesses? How does it cope with such pressures as globalisation, Foot and Mouth outbreaks, and urban immigration? These are questions to be posed by Professor Lowe who set up the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University. The Centre has led the way in providing an up-to-date picture of rural economies with their diversified farms, local services, small businesses, commuters, home-workers and community organisations. Drawing on its investigations in the North of England, Professor Lowe will present insights that the Centre has derived on what shapes rural economies internally and externally. He will use the talk to reflect on how the University can be an effective agent and partner in rural development, and what lessons this holds for the wider role of the University in the region.

Professor Philip Lowe, OBE, is Director of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme of the UK Research Councils. He has been a leading figure in the development of interdisciplinary rural studies in the UK.  In 1992, he founded the Centre for Rural Economy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he holds the Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy.

He has played an active role in rural policy development at the national and European levels and in the North of England.  He is a member of the Science Advisory Council of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and currently chairs Defra’s Vets and Veterinary Services Working Group.

For his contribution to the rural economy he was appointed OBE in 2003.