Read the latest Relu newsletter and Communication Manager Anne Liddon's blog

 

Research shows our attitudes to badgers are rooted in history and unhelpful for policymaking

Research by Dr Angela Cassidy, an interdisciplinary fellow with the research councils’ Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, shows that our conflicted attitudes to badgers go back well before Kenneth Grahame’s depiction of wise old Mr Badger in The Wind in the Willows, and certainly predate arguments about their possible role in spreading bovine tuberculosis among cattle.  Dr Cassidy argues that these ambivalent, but often deep rooted, feelings about “Old Brock” are still colouring today’s debate over bovine tuberculosis and influence how it is covered in the media.   The research is published in Sociologia Ruralis volume 52, Issue 2, 192-214, April 2012.

 

 

Transatlantic links lead to comparative analysis

Researchers from Relu and beyond have contributed to a book comparing challenges facing rural areas in the UK and US just published by Routledge. Rural Transformations and Rural Policies in the US and UK, authored by social scientists from both sides of the Atlantic, looks at aspects of rural policy, food systems, migration between rural and urban areas, issues around ageing populations and entrepreneurism in a wide-ranging series of studies. Relu Director Philip Lowe has contributed a key chapter on “The Agency of Rural Research in Comparative Context”. He said: “Here we are comparing two societies that think of themselves as rural and which are rooted in a common cultural history, but which have many features which differ from one another? One of the functions of social science is to help us discern whether knowledge gained in one context may be applicable to another. Such knowledge is vital to support effective policy learning”

 

 

Relu researcher comments on new National Planning Policy Framework

The NPPF has been welcomed by some, condemned by others. Relu researcher Professor Alister Scott, Professor of Spatial Planning and Governance at Birmingham City University looks at “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” aspects of the framework.

 

Is animal disease research lost in translation before reaching policy and practice?

Research from the Relu programme tells us the findings are too often “lost in translation” because of the different perspectives and priorities of stakeholders. They call for the criteria that drive the priorities of different organisations in managing disease to be made more transparent and argue that this would facilitate a more coordinated response. Policy and Practice Note No 36 outlines some principles that would help.

Relu on Twitter

Relu is now on Twitter. Follow us @Reluprogramme for all the latest Relu news and comment.

 

Royal Society special issue - reduced price for Relu stakeholders

Royal Society Publishing has just published Interdisciplinary perspectives on the management of infectious animal and plant diseases, compiled and edited byPhilip Lowe, Jeremy Phillipson, Laura E Green, Stephen Hunter, Michael J Jeger, Guy M Poppy and Jeff Waage.  See – http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/2011/Infectious_disease_management.xhtml for further details or you can go straight to the issue contents at http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/366/1573.toc  The print issue is available at the special price of £47.50. You can order this online via the above web page (enter special code TB1573 when prompted) or, alternatively, you can contact debbie.vaughan@royalsociety.org