Our Work

The Institute’s research aims to improve our thinking on wild land and natural processes, create a new framework for understanding and valuing natural and semi-natural environments, and seek to enhance our relationship with wild nature. We work closely with our funders and clients to meet their needs for mapping products, detailed analysis and policy advice. Past and current clients include the EU, US Forest Service, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish national parks, Ófeig nature conservation (Iceland) and The John Muir Trust.

The focus of our research is to foster a better understanding the nature of the intrinsic value of wild land, perceptions of wild land and its spatial, cultural and ecological components, and identifying and valuing ecosystem goods and services from wild lands.

More specific areas of research include:

  • Protected area management in the UK, its current and future goals
  • Integration of wild land into the wider landscape – new paradigms for land use and agriculture in a landscape continuum
  • Spatial strategies for large-scale rewildling
  • Delivering wild land values in multi-functional landscapes and habitat networks
  • Developing a Recreational Opportunity Spectrum for current and future landscapes
  • Fear and danger – the barriers to species reintroduction
  • The integration of wild land with open countryside and the peri-urban landscape
  • Developing and inspiring a future view of wild land in the literary and artistic milieu
  • Using visual and spatial approaches to envisioning new, wilder landscapes

Links to our key outputs, presentations and publications can be found here.