Sustainability, regeneration and biodiversity in agriculture
This research cluster is developing improved methods of cultivation, with nutrient recovery, low carbon agriculture, soil conservation and planting regimes, to enable long-term sustainability, achieving net zero-carbon, and healthier food.
Livestock health and welfare
The focus of our research into livestock is to provide scientific support for welfare and animal health improvement and to provide robust welfare outcome methodologies that can be used in a commercial context.
Food policy, quality and security
This research cluster considers food supply as a subset of wider food systems. The collective research activity is considering food supply as a socio-economic and a socio-technical system which inform food safety, food supply and the moral framing and behaviours in supply chains.
Equine science
The cluster’s research focuses on the relationship between equine behavioural neuroscience, gastric health and dietary manipulation of stabled performance horses, and makes a significant contribution to horse welfare.
Rural economy
Researchers at the RAU understand that land and landscape are a dynamic entity, the product of millennia of human curation, in the countryside and small rural towns. The rural economy includes industries traditionally associated with rural areas, such as agriculture, forestry and sectors such as creative industries, technology orientation across businesses and the service industry.
Cultural heritage
Based at the newly established RAU Swindon, this research cluster is examining the historic environment.
Publications
These documents list peer reviewed research papers, books, conference presentations, research and consultancy reports and details of our PhD students, including those graduating each year.
National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE)
NICRE’s aims are to develop and discover the possibilities of the UK’s rural enterprises.
Cultured meat and farmers
In a two-year study, a team led by the RAU is asking what farmers think of cultured meat, then modelling how real farm businesses might fare if it becomes part of our diets.
Reversing the Gaze: Knowledge Stories and the Struggles for Community Land Rights in Scotland
This project uniquely employs knowledge and experiences from the global South as a fresh lens through which to review the nature of community land rights in Scotland.