Rural areas in the UK were experiencing considerable change at the time of these The Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (RELU) funded projects. RELU funded many projects and aimed to advance understanding of the challenges rural areas and communities faced. RELU funded interdisciplinary research in order to inform future policy and practice about choices in how to manage the countryside and rural economies. The Sustainable Uplands Project had a scoping study phase and a main project phase.
This Scoping Study (RES-224-25-0088) took place between August 2004 and July 2005. It combined knowledge from local stakeholders, policy-makers and social and natural scientists with a view to anticipating, monitoring and sustainably managing rural change in UK uplands.
As a co-investigator Andy's role was to attend meetings and provide advice on implementing and developing a Geographic Information System.
The project used a Web based portal known as the Virtual Knowledge Park (VKP) for project management and information organisation, and as a repository. This was available via the following URL, but it went offline some time in 2007: http://vkp.leeds.ac.uk/.
Andy compiled a Working Paper on GIS options. Other project outputs were available via the Sustainable Uplands Project Web site at the following URL: http://www.env.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands
The site was captured by the Internet Archive WayBack Machine on 2016-10-08
The main project following the scoping study was funded as (RES-227-25-0001) from March 2006 to March 2009. Again the VKP for project management and information organisation, and as a repository.
Researcher collaborated with locals and policy makers to develop a framework that could be applied throughout UK uplands to find new ways for people to detect change and harness it for their advantage.
As a co-investigator Andy attended meetings; provided expertise and guidance on the development of a Geographic Information System; supported a research assistant (Nanlin Jin) working on Integrated Modelling, GIS Development and Agent Based Modelling; and, identified opportunities to develop outputs for disseminationg.