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In the article, the author focuses on the growing popularity of the lists of the greatest, essential or best-loved Scottish books in past years. The author mentions that "The Herald," for one, has asked its readers to nominate their 100 best Scottish novels. The "Scotsman," on the other hand, published in 2005 a list of "20 Scottish Books Everyone Should Read." Also referenced is Rosemary Goring's introduction to "Scotland Bookshelf" to show the tensions inherent in such list-making effort.

This paper explores some challenges of archaeological interpretation and classification through an enclosure at Inchnadamph in Sutherland, northwestern Scotland, a site that has proven difficult to interpret. Despite a small number of archaeological interventions, including topographic and geophysical survey and excavation, the site remains enigmatic. We discuss the different interpretations suggested for the site in turn, concluding that the enclosure does not fit readily into existing classification schemes. This raises issues surrounding the use of classification systems, prior assumptions, and the need for critical thinking in interpretation. These are universal issues, applicable beyond the Scottish example chosen, and this paper highlights concerns and difficulties encountered by all who deal with the classification of sites and monuments. Ultimately, this challenges some of our preconceptions and sheds light on the limits of our knowledge, as well as the limits of our classification systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1896 William Osler wrote in his pamphlet, John Keats, The Apothecary Poet, 'All lovers of poetry cherish Keats' memory for the splendour of the verse with which he has enriched our literature'. Later T. Wilson Parry stated, 'To me Keats is and ever will be the doctors' poet'. The abiding question underlying this paper is why Keats appeals to so many members of the medical profession and why so few now read the other medical poets. The paper sets out to address this question. It concludes that the reason why Keats is particularly admired by the medical profession is not just because of his early tragic death nor his training in medicine but because his poetry embodies negative capability and an ability to bear the knowledge that pain and pleasure, love and hate, loveliness and ugliness are intertwined. The entwining of Keats's whole life experience (including his medical knowledge) in his emotionally truthful poetry makes his work directly accessible and recognizable to those engaged in a profession which binds them close to the painful, insistent and contradictory realities of human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic boundaries and friendship are intricately related in Malaysia. Many concerns have arisen about this issue, especially when it could indicate inter-ethnic acceptance, tolerance, and understanding. The objective of this paper is to discuss the importance of ethnic boundaries in Malaysian youth friendships. The data were drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted through in-depth interviews with Malaysian students in two universities located inside and outside Malaysia’s geographical territory. A comparative study was selected due to the possibility that variations might exist across Malaysia’s boundary. Through a comparative analysis in Penang in Malaysia and Glasgow in Scotland, this article demonstrates how, when, and why ethnicity becomes essential within Malaysian friendships. The findings demonstrate that the respondents’ friendships worked within cultural boundaries—religion and language—but at different levels depending on the location of the interview. It can be inferred that ethnicity and its boundaries within the friendship are not fixed but are socially constructed, maintained, and heightened depending on social actors’ particular needs, situations, and socio-political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on Artists' Papers Register, a finding list of archival documents that is related to artists, engravers, wood-engravers and lithographers. The author reveals that in 1987, the Artists' Papers Register has begun with a pilot project at Glasgow University Library and funded by the Getty Grant Program. The Artist' Papers Register is devoted to investigate the holdings of artists' documents that are stored in west of Scotland institutions. The database of the Register can be searched by the names of artists and by several categories. Moreover, it further points out that it is planned that the said Register should be regularly updated so that there will be opportunities to extend its usefulness.

Social innovation (SI) has been championed as an integral feature of community-led rural development. However, the choice of the term "innovation" prompts a number of questions about the intensity and novelty of SI initiatives. In this paper, these issues are examined through the lens of radical and incremental innovation theory. By analysing features of radical and incremental SI, we can better understand the different social reconfigurations that can respond effectively to a range of rural needs and opportunities. The article aims at explaining the meaning and operationalisation of radical and incremental SI in rural areas. A multiple case study method was adopted for the research. Empirical data was gathered from two initiatives located in rural areas of Spain and Scotland and the main methods used were semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis. The findings illustrate how radical and incremental SIs can lead to sustainable development and social change. However, they imply social reconfigurations of different intensity that respond to the different attitudes and aspirations of the actors involved. The paper shows three diverging development trajectories for SI initiatives and discusses the role of conflict, skills and planning in these processes. Further, the more fluid nature of SI compared to technological innovation is clarified. In the conclusion we argue that public actors should identify the different aspirations of local actors and set the stage for the activation of the local society. In radical SI processes, conflict management mechanisms and new skills need to be promoted. • The intensity of social innovation (SI) in rural areas is examined through the lens of radical and incremental innovation. • Actors' attitudes and aspirations in relation to community needs influence the degree of radicalism of SI. • The way SIs challenge the status quo of local communities is key in distinguishing radical and incremental processes. • Radical SI usually requires longer adoption periods and can bring about conflicts. • The emergence of conflicts depends on the temporal context and the specific nature of the actors involved. • SI initiatives are fluid and can evolve into different radical and incremental processes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although increasingly prominent in research, policy and practice, little is known about social innovation in a rural context. To address this knowledge gap, our paper explores how rurality might affect the social innovation process. Drawing on 68 interviews carried out with beneficiaries, service providers and external stakeholders of a rural social enterprise initiative in Scotland, the paper adopts a realist evaluation theory (Pawson and Tilley, 1997) approach combined with Calò et al.'s (2019) social innovation analytical framework to identify Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations for rural social innovation. The findings highlight that specific characteristics of rural places can act as stimuli of social innovation. Positive outcomes of a social innovation can potentially be rooted in rural peculiarity and its problematic context. Push factors, born out of necessity, lead to reactive social innovation and pull factors, derived through harnessing perceived opportunities in the environment, lead to proactive social innovation. Importantly, push factors do not undermine the establishment of social innovation – indeed, they can actually promote social innovation and strengthen its validity. The paper also shows that outcomes of the social innovation process might not be specific to rural areas. Instead, the pathway to the desired outcomes is conditioned by rural factors, shaping the contexts and mechanisms of rural social innovation. As different rural locations might have different resources to address local challenges, social innovation processes vary from one case to another, although the challenges being addressed might be similar. As such, rural social innovation policies should not be 'over prescribed'. Context creates both challenges and solutions and influences the type and form of mechanisms used to achieve a desirable social innovation outcome. • Rural places can act as stimuli of social innovation. • Positive outcomes of a social innovation are frequently rooted in rural peculiarity. • Push factors can promote rural social innovation strengthening its validity. • Rural social innovation policies should not be 'over prescribed'. • Rural context influences the mechanisms used to achieve social innovation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An ancient Egyptian object buried in the grounds of a historic house near Monimail in Fife was found by chance in 1952 and acquired at the time by the then Royal Scottish Museum (now National Museums Scotland). A second object from the same location appeared by chance in 1966 and was shown to the Museum but not accessioned. The revelation of a third object in 1984 prompted an investigation that produced clear evidence there had once been a larger collection of Egyptian antiquities at Melville House. This paper offers the first published account of how these events unfolded and discusses the possible origins of the collection through a visit to Egypt by members of the Leslie-Melville family in 1856–7. The third object and the finds made in 1984 during the investigation were claimed by the Crown as Treasure Trove and all are now in the collections of National Museums Scotland. They are apparently the only ancient Egyptian items to have been declared as Treasure Trove in Scotland. A catalogue of these objects, along with the original find, is provided. The main text of the paper is by Elizabeth Goring with additional comments by Margaret Maitland; the catalogue is by Margaret Maitland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Announces the 18th International Symposium on Forecasting, which will be held on June 10 through 13, 1998 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Who the event will be sponsored by; Invitation for papers on any aspect of forecasting to be submitted by January 16, 1998; Contact information.

• Conceives of technology legitimation as a trans -regional process of strategic coupling. • Presents a cross-regional 'distended' case study of a floating wind power (FWP) technology. • Shows that the FWP technology was gradually legitimated in a pragmatic sense over three phases. Building upon recent work in sustainability transitions studies and economic geography, this paper is concerned with the process of legitimation by which emerging technologies are aligned with broader societal rules and norms. Challenging the assumption of earlier research that legitimation occurs within regional and national borders, the paper views legitimation as set of transregional processes whereby the actors behind emerging technologies seek support from different regional and national organizations on an international basis. Inspired by the Global Production Networks (GPN) approach, the paper argues that technology legitimation can be understood as a trans -regional process of strategic coupling between the strategic needs of the industrial actors advancing new technologies and the efforts of national and regional organizations to promote their territories as leading nodes in emerging production networks. Empirically, the paper adopts a micro-level focus on the legitimation of a particular renewable energy technology: the Hywind floating wind power (FWP) technology, developed by the Norwegian energy firm, Equinor. The paper shows that the FWP technology was gradually legitimated in a pragmatic sense over the three stages of Hywind. The demonstration phase generated a temporary and conditional form of legitimacy at an intra-national scale, while the next phase, Hywind Scotland, generated a stronger and more durable form of legitimacy as the world's first floating wind farm. This led to the internalisation of legitimacy from outside into the Norwegian energy regime (absorption) in the third stage of Hywind Tampen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Whilst acknowledging that child-welfare-involved pregnant women occupy a uniquely precarious position in terms of their human dignity and rights, this paper focuses on the vulnerabilities of fathers of children subject to child protection assessment before the birth of a child. APPROACH: This article draws on data from two qualitative research studies, both focused on social work practice in Scotland. The first study created ethnographic data with and about eight fathers who were experiencing pre-birth child protection involvement with their babies. The second study did not include fathers themselves, yet research data were created through interviews with 10 birth mothers, which reinforced findings of the prior research in relation to men being written out of planning and legal processes before their children were born. FINDINGS: Taking a reproductive justice lens to the findings of the two studies reveals how this population of fathers are exposed to legal and social precarity in relation to their paternal role. Through the advice of social workers, women were encouraged not to name the fathers of their as yet unborn infants on their child's birth certificate, creating an immediate barrier to fathers' involvement. IMPLICATIONS: The article demonstrates that a reproductive justice framework (L. Ross & Solinger, 2017) can be applied in order to understand how men's rights to parent their children may be compromised by child protection involvement in the family. Acknowledging the power held by social workers is a crucial first step in beginning to address the social inequalities around "reproductive destiny" (L. Ross, 2006, p. 4) experienced by fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure is increasing globally to deliver integrated land use at large spatial scales (10–100 s km2) to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies through delivery of nature-based solutions. There is also pressure to decentralise land use decision-making to sub-national levels of government and multi-stakeholder partnerships, with the aim of improving policy targeting, coordination and participation. Whilst there has been significant research on these issues at smaller spatial and administrative scales, it is limited at larger scales. This paper addresses this gap, investigating whether the introduction of additional regional institutions can help address these challenges. It draws insights from Scotland's decade old Land Use Strategy (LUS) and evolving Regional Land Use Partnerships (RLUPs) that aim to mitigate climate change through encouraging improved and integrated land use and land management. We find that despite considerable stakeholder support, such approaches may not deliver on their ambitions. An overarching finding relates to the importance of political commitment to implementation at these larger scales, which is crucial for establishing clear objectives, giving regions authority to respond to regional priorities, and ensuring adequate resourcing. This affects buy-in from stakeholders and the resolution of policy coordination challenges that the partnerships are meant to address. It has wider implications for the delivery of national climate policies, given the importance of land management in most climate change strategies. The insights, and the analytical framework used, are relevant for any country grappling with the challenge of implementing nature-based solutions at ever larger scales whilst bridging local and national land use priorities. • Regional integrated land use planning in Scotland evaluated and wider lessons drawn. • Clear objectives, transfer of powers, and resourcing key to regional land use planning. • Political commitment is crucial in overcoming delivery challenges at this scale. • Approaches to scaling up integrated land use need to account for politics. • These lessons are important in global efforts to scale up nature-based solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under climate change, many parts of the world are warming with increasing frequencies and intensities of heatwaves, bringing heat-health risks to places including those that have a historically temperate or cool climate. These places may have extensive experience in managing cold-health risks, while experience is lacking in dealing with heat-health risks due to their lack of historical exposure to high temperatures. This paper explores this overlooked area of the challenges and opportunities of heat-health governance in cool places using Scotland as a case study. Various important themes of heat-health governance in cool places were identified by the study, including socio-cultural barriers to intervention, vulnerable population overlaps, temporal and geographical scales, and governance arrangements. The study found challenges in managing heat-health risks including a perceived lack of heat-health risks and policy priority as well as unsuitable building stock. Meanwhile, it also identified opportunities for governing cold and heat risks holistically within existing institutional systems and creating co-benefits of improving communication and information dissemination, reducing inequality and improving indoor thermal comfort of both cold and heat as well as providing good quality greenspace. Our findings contribute to the development or improvement of national/regional strategies to manage heat-health risks not only in Scotland but also in other places with a historically cool or temperate climate. • Temperature increase under climate change poses health risks to cool places as well. • Cool places have distinctive challenges and opportunities in heat-health governance. • Perceived lack of heat risks poses socio-cultural barriers to heat-health governance. • A holistic governance approach of cold and heat-health risks was preferred. • Building design and occupant behaviour are crucial for thermal comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to bring to the foreground someone who, through her own choice, sought to remain the background in the development of the worldwide Camphill Movement - Tilla Konig. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes the intersection of biography and humanitarianism to explore the life of Lady Helen Munro Ferguson who played a significant leadership role in women's activism in Britain in the early twentieth century including the Red Cross in Scotland and Australia. The paper explores the problems of constructing a biographical narrative of a leading female humanitarian when there is no personal collection or memoir and limited sources. How do organisational records affect our interpretation and what role does gender play? Could speculative biography help in bringing to life a woman of note but lost to time? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Voluntary support organisations increasingly rely on non-state funding. • Offers a rich account of how managers navigate a difficult funding landscape. • Documents how managing care and support organisations is precarious. • Concludes that relationships with local authorities are crucial for sustainability. This paper examines voluntary sector care and support provision under a context of significantly reduced government funding. Whilst geographers have analysed the causes and aftermath of austerity on different populations, our focus is on how managers of voluntary sector organisations have had to learn and evolve through bidding for non -statutory funding to sustain their core provision. Drawing on research with voluntary support organisations in the learning disability social care sector in England and Scotland, the paper examines the effects of the state's continued reliance on the sector for core 'public' services whilst simultaneously withdrawing its funding. Using accounts from managers, the paper offers a particularly novel and potent example of voluntary sector precarity and the deepening unfinished and unsettled nature of care and support that has unfolded in the wake of austerity. Through the empirical research, attention is drawn to three levels of precarity that are experienced by those seeking to sustain voluntary support provision: voluntary sector organisation and structures, the voluntary sector workforce, and individual managers' everyday emotional and affective experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of medieval crusade have highlighted the ways in which participants expressed multifaceted martial, ecclesiastical, regional and gendered expressions of identity. Much of contemporaries’ consideration and display of ‘crusading identity’ took place far away from the battlefield. This paper examines an element of crusading identity manifest in the Kingdom of Scotland – a region that produced numerous crusaders and benefactors of the Military Orders, and yet has seldom featured as a centre-point for crusade studies. This article focuses on crusaders’ practice of settling disputes and displaying their magnanimity within their community, ahead of their departure. Using Earl Patrick II of Dunbar (d 1248) and Robert de Brus (d 1295) as case studies, the article argues that their preparations for holy war are indicative of a strong awareness of the subtleties of wider Latin Christian crusading culture among Scotland’s nobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between the school environment and senior pupils’ identity development in a secondary school in Scotland. The study used semi-structured interviews and Photovoice along with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, to explore senior pupils’ experience of the social places within their school. The findings reveal the relationship between the places that pupils can access for social interaction and their sense of identity, and their use of territoriality to protect these specific places. The findings are considered in the context of the role of the school environment, pupils’ needs and their implications for school design and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between rural space and Brexit. It uses the 2016 UK Referendum outcome and the ongoing processes of Brexit as an optic though which to explore the changing configurations of rural communities and the ways in which they both reinforce and problematise the politics and geographies of Brexit. Taking as its starting point the 'take our country back' nationalism of the 2016 Referendum the paper considers how the anti-migrant, defensive Brexit positions folded into dominant rural imaginaries. Arguing that these imaginaries have always been fractured, the paper shows how this has intensified through the ruralisation of migration in the 2000s. In this context Brexit can be understood as rupture more than a confirmation of nationalist or exclusionary rural imaginaries and the complex intra-rural Leave/Remain geography is indicative of this. Drawing on a small set of in-depth interviews with expert 'policy actors' from rural community and migrant organisations in rural regions in of Wales, England, and Scotland the paper reflects on the rural-Brexit relationship by exploring rural diversity, perceptions of the impacts of Brexit on rural places and rural-migrant dependencies that are social as well as economic. It identifies the interconnected precarity of rural communities' well-being as the decisions of (and constraints on) rural migrants in the post Brexit, re-bordered UK disrupt and affect rural livability. In doing so, it emphasises the ambivalence in the everyday 'rural Brexit' and calls for closer attention to the ways in which rural communities are constitutive of and respond to political turbulence. • Develops the nascent debates around the relationship between Brexit and the rural. • Examines the complexity of that relationship across three national contexts. • Brings together the sociological literature around Brexit with insights from rural sociology. • Explores the lacunae between the rural as an expression of nationalism and the rural as a lived and fluid space. • Draws on and presents situated policy responses from an exploratory empirical study. • Reflects on emergent senses of rural precarity and the importance of rural interdependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on a study in the North East of Scotland, this paper presents the impact on rural micro businesses of public policy-led next generation broadband (NGB) upgrades to broadband infrastructure. Two major strands of research are presented, digital connectivity and micro business development. Examining digital connectivity, we conclude that digital divides can now feature five levels of inequity, which cannot be portrayed by existing spatial urban/rural classifications. Policy-led broadband programmes do not address local broadband disparities, fall short of addressing digital inequity issues, and often the most in need remain underserved by their broadband service. Examining micro businesses, this paper concludes that such businesses, regardless of their information and communications technology (ICT) skills and methods of exploitation, exhibit the same level of broadband need as their urban counterparts. Further, the rapid and exponential development of ICTs requiring at least an NGB connection is surpassing the ability of businesses to access a 'fit-for-purpose' broadband connection. It is evident that some rural settlements are becoming 'digital deserts'. However, contrary to being solely linked to one's proximity to population centres, this research demonstrates that lack of access to NGB can occur anywhere over 1.5 km from an NGB fibre connection and is determined by proximity to the digital engineering infrastructure connectivity nodes, rather than proximity to urban centres. These digitally isolated spots may or may not be situated in densely populated urban areas. This finding suggests a need to rethink how we frame our perceptions of digital inequity at the territorial level as access to, and experience of, digital connectivity is restructured and organised as a result of NGB upgrade locations and the impact of technologies associated with the digital revolution. We recommend that in order to address these emerging digital disparities, interventions should adopt a co-production, multi stakeholder approach involving actors from community, policy and private sectors in order to realise place-based digital solutions. • Territorial digital divides, whilst more likely in remote rural areas, can be found in both urban and rural locations. • Contextualises new territorial digital divides and associated typologies with current spatial classifications. • Exemplifies the integral relationship between rural small/micro businesses, place, location and NGB accessibility. • How post NGB deployment, new digital inequities impact on ICT dependent features of contemporary rural business practices. • Questions the impact of this on rural business survival and wider societal reorganisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the establishment and operation of a number of new bodies - variously called councils, boards, collaboratives, groups, forums and panels - concerned with the development of Scottish education. What were the intentions behind their creation during the period 2016-20? Do they amount to a significant reshaping of the policy community, making it more open and democratic, and representing a genuine re-distribution of power, or are they more concerned with public presentation and political positioning? The paper is based mainly, but not exclusively, on publicly available minutes and related papers produced by the various bodies. These allow for an analysis of their composition and remits, as well as an examination of the substantive issues they have considered. The discussion also takes account of earlier descriptions of the character of the policy community, as well as hopes that the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 would lead to greater transparency and accountability in political decision-making. It is argued that, while the new bodies provide opportunities for some previously marginalised voices to be heard, they demonstrate the continuing potency of familiar forms of bureaucratic management and professional protectionism. The paper also indicates a number of areas where further research would deepen understanding of the politics of Scottish education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Power is vested in institutional arrangements governing energy systems. • We track how institutional processes and local initiatives' trajectories co-emerge. • Energy initiatives' everyday negotiations with regulations are a site of politics. • Energy initiatives navigate regulatory constraints in experimental ways. • These experimental practices take shape in response to limits posed by regulations. Following critiques that scholarship on socio-technical transitions was overly normative and emptied of politics, a burgeoning stream of literature has begun offering understandings of transition that are more informed by politics. Whilst fruitful, there is a tendency in some of this work to constitute politics as the background or contextual frame in which socio-technical change unfolds, rather than as a process central to its emergence. Collaterally, relatively little attention has been given to how politics emerges in the everyday practices and struggles of energy initiatives. Engaging with recent work in urban studies, this paper explores how political processes unfold on the ground. We argue that one key site for this emergent politics is the institutional and regulatory arrangements that energy initiatives must navigate in carving out their activities. We do not address these simply as an externalised array of norms and procedures that variously impose upon and impede the efforts of energy initiatives. Instead, we explore how initiatives' trajectories are shaped by and entangled with the institutional and regulatory landscapes in which they operate. What we call politics emerges in and is exposed through initiatives' everyday efforts to negotiate and respond to regulatory strictures and opportunities. We explore the regulatory conditions that influence the everyday practices of three differently scaled energy initiatives in Scotland, Spain and Germany, each of which is variously involved in the generation, distribution and sale of energy. Our paper considers not only the ways that institutional arrangements generate obstacles for renewable energy innovation, but also how they may open up certain – albeit limited – possibilities for action, in some cases with larger ramifications for how the production and distribution of energy are governed. However, we note that where such possibilities arise, they are heavily determined by the terms set by existing institutional and regulatory frameworks, pointing to the limited scope for crafting new kinds of energy politics under current conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of equal access to educational opportunity is an international policy imperative that remains as elusive as it is desirable. Despite a plethora of inclusive policies and initiatives in Scotland such as Getting it Right for Every Child (2008 & 2012), Curriculum for Excellence (2009) and the Scottish Attainment Challenge (2015), significant numbers of young people cannot be said to experience equal access to educational opportunity. This paper draws upon complementary sociological and philosophical perspectives to explore why such barriers to equality of educational opportunity persist, before suggesting ways in which serious engagement with such theory might counter deficit assumptions in play and offer possible new ways forward. The point of departure is Bourdieu's typology of various forms of social capital which highlights how possession of capital is advantageous to upper and middle class families, whereas lack of such capital serves to restrict educational opportunities for young people from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Such an analysis argues that reproduction of social conditions, styles of thinking and decision-making, coupled with oppressive societal structures, all serve to disempower young people and impact negatively upon their educational attainment. This paper explores a variety of ways in which theory might challenge and interrupt assumptions informing discourses associated with inequality and their associated remedies. Through engaging a series of problematics within current framings of inequality, the paper argues that a more sustained engagement with theory offers the possibility of more nuanced understandings of inequality and a provocation to imagine otherwise. Engaging in such imaginative work might, moreover, enable the barriers to equality of educational opportunity to be better addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We decompose changes in industrial water demand in Scotland between 2012 and 2016. • Changes in sectoral water intensity a key factor explaining fall in water demand. • Role of electricity generation policies aimed at encouraging renewables important. • Future changes in water availability, demand and technologies important to examine. Future climate scenarios predict significant changes in the availability of water resources at global and regional scales. Knowledge of the possible economic consequences of this are limited by a shortage of data linking economic activity with physical water use. Matching a unique premise-level dataset to economic indicators at industrial/sector level, this paper undertakes a decomposition of changes in industrial water demand for Scotland between 2012 and 2016. Results highlight the importance of taking a sectoral approach, as changes in sectoral water intensity are significant. Furthermore, changes in the structure of the economy, i.e. a move away from water-intensive industries, highlight further reductions in overall water consumption. By considering future scenarios for Scottish water resources, this paper identifies key multi-disciplinary research challenges to address the major obstacles in developing a climate-ready water policy, which also captures the potential economic opportunities for Scotland from an awareness of the role of water in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drones, lasers and satellites measure forests with seemingly unprecedented detail. In Scotland, private companies are bringing these Advanced Measurement Technologies (AMTs) from ecological science to market. Companies offer landowners the chance to independently measure and verify natural capital commodities, such as woodland carbon credits, using these technologies. Drawing from 61 interviews with stakeholders in the Scottish land sector, alongside six months of ethnographic research, this paper explores the climate governance consequences of high-tech forest carbon measurement. The argument develops from the well-established premise within environmental STS that technologies' apparent objectivity and impartiality obscures the political-economic motivations shaping their use. In Scotland, AMTs are reflexively developed to generate increased financial value from forest creation schemes. AMTs find more carbon in forests than standard measurement practices allow. Carbon is 'known not grown': more numerous and legitimate carbon credits can be created through a shift in knowledge practices rather than a material shift in nature-based carbon sequestration. Three epistemic processes allow for more carbon to be 'known not grown'. Firstly, more carbon volume can be identified within a forest by using sophisticated measurement techniques. Secondly, conservative carbon estimates can be bypassed because of the perceived precision of AMTs. Thirdly, AMT developers cultivate a situated form of measurement accuracy by drawing upon a selective uptake of science. This paper argues 'known not grown' is a novel type of mitigation deterrence. It is a dangerous yet increasingly widespread phenomenon in neoliberal environmental governance and requires further empirical investigation. • Carbon measurement is developing along a privatised and technocratic trajectory. • Measurement technologies are taken from science to 'find' more carbon in forests. • Carbon is 'known not grown': more carbon is measured but not necessarily sequestered. • 'Known not grown' is a novel frontier of mitigation deterrence. • Finding natural capital is increasingly likely in neoliberal nature restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a particle tracking model to simulate the distribution of fishing-related marine-sourced plastic litter from demersal trawling activities along the Atlantic coast of Scotland. The modelled fishing litter dispersed widely across the region, with ∼50% of the particles beaching along the northwestern Scottish coast after a year-long simulation. The model was tuned using observations of beached litter loadings along the same coastline to estimate the annual input, by mass, of small (<1 kg) plastic litter. Model results suggest that between 107 g and 280 g of small fishing-related litter enters the ocean per hour of fishing, resulting in an estimated 234 t to 614 t of small fishing-related litter entering the ocean annually on the Scottish west coast. These results suggest that fishing on the Atlantic coast of Scotland may be a significant source of marine plastic. However, more modelled and observational data are required to reduce uncertainty. • Fishing is a significant source of plastic litter on the west coast of Scotland. • A model calibrated by field data is used to predict mass input of fishing litter. • An estimated 107–280 g of small fishing litter enters the ocean per hour of fishing. • Each year, 234–614 t of small fishing litter enters the ocean in western Scotland. • Remote, less-populated coastlines, found higher levels of fishing-related litter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oncotype DX Breast RS test has been adopted in Scotland and has been the subject of a large population-based study by a Scottish Consensus Group to assess the uptake of the recurrence score (RS), evaluate co-variates associated with the RS and to analyse the effect it may have had on clinical practice. Materials & Methods: Pan-Scotland study between August 2018–August 2021 evaluating 833 patients who had a RS test performed as part of their diagnostic pathway. Data was extracted retrospectively from electronic records and analysis conducted to describe change in chemotherapy administration (by direct comparison with conventional risk assessment tools), and univariate/multivariate analysis to assess relationship between covariates and the RS. Chemotherapy treatment was strongly influenced by the RS (p < 0.001). Only 30 % of patients received chemotherapy treatment in the intermediate and high risk PREDICT groups, where chemotherapy is considered. Additionally, 55.5 % of patients with a high risk PREDICT had a low RS and did not receive chemotherapy. There were 17 % of patients with a low risk PREDICT but high RS who received chemotherapy. Multivariate regression analysis showed the progesterone receptor Allred score (PR score) to be a strong independent predictor of the RS, with a negative PR score being associated with high RS (OR 4.49, p < 0.001). Increasing grade was also associated with high RS (OR 3.81, p < 0.001). Classic lobular pathology was associated with a low RS in comparison to other tumour pathology (p < 0.01). Nodal disease was associated with a lower RS (p = 0.012) on univariate analysis, with menopausal status (p = 0.43) not influencing the RS on univariate or multivariate analysis. Genomic assays offer the potential for risk-stratified decision making regarding the use of chemotherapy. They can help reduce unnecessary chemotherapy treatment and identify a subgroup of patients with more adverse genomic tumour biology. A recent publication by Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) has updated guidance on use of the RS test for NHS Scotland. It suggests to limit its use to the intermediate risk PREDICT group. Our study shows the impact of the RS test in the low and high risk PREDICT groups. The implementation across Scotland has resulted in a notable shift in practice, leading to a significant reduction in chemotherapy administration in the setting of high risk PREDICT scores returning low risk RS. There has also been utility for the test in the low risk PREDICT group to detect a small subgroup with a high RS. We have found the PR score to have a strong independent association with high risk RS. This finding was not evaluated by the key RS test papers, and the potential prognostic information provided by the PR score as a surrogate biomarker is an outstanding question that requires more research to validate. • Real-world data across NHS Scotland, providing insights into the implementation of genomic decision tools in the management of EBC • The RS test has caused significant decreases in chemotherapy use with benefits including reduced patient morbidity and cost savings for the NHS. • The PR score is a strong independent predictor of the RS with future integrated use with genomic tests an avenue of future research and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper characterises current rewilding activities in the UK, through the analysis of 66 rewilding projects. Project information was obtained from online data (65 %), and direct mail data requests (35 %). The analyses showed an exponential growth in the number of new rewilding projects since 2010, with 8 % of projects started prior to 2000, and 60 % initiated after 2010. Seventy-three percent of projects involved rewilding areas of less than 1000 ha, 17 % being between 1000 and 10,000 ha, and 9 % greater than 10,000 ha. In Scotland, 80 % of the area being rewilded involved mountain, heath and bog habitats. For England the largest rewilded areas (58 %) were semi-natural or improved grasslands. Fifty-six percent of sites were formerly used for livestock farming, and 24 % for arable cultivation. A total of 72 % of sites employed tree planting, 64 % introduced herbivores, and 33 % introduced non-herbivores. The removal of sheep and cattle took place in 51 % of projects, with deer control in 33 %, wetland creation in 39 %, and the removal of artificial drainage in 36 % of projects. There was a close geographical proximity between rewilding sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), with 69 % of areas being within 4 km, and only two sites greater than 8 km. Twelve project funding sources were recorded, and most projects utilised multiple funding sources. The benefits of an evidence-led and nationally co-ordinated rewilding approach were identified in relation to using well-established decision tools and frameworks to enhance future rewilding spatial planning. This would allow the development of a map of 'appropriate' rewilding areas, based on landscape scale characteristics, national species and habitat priorities, and predicted future landscape changes. Importantly, these 'target' areas would also be sensitive to local social, economic and agricultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines different curriculum making actors, discourses and practices at different sites and then situate Scotland and Wales within these. I illustrate the interconnected nature of different sites of curriculum making and explain how these exert influences in the two countries while acknowledging their social and cultural differences. Analysing of policy documents suggest that certain supra discourses and trends are evident in both countries following similar curriculum structures. Nevertheless, there are differences in the ways curriculum is constructed and the steps taken for increasing curriculum making capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both regional and rural development have enduring "received wisdoms" to which wise practitioners and policy makers pay lip-service. In the case of the latter the role of land-based industries as drivers of the rural economy is ignored at peril, whilst regional policy makers must pay their respects to cities and towns as the engines of growth. We suggest that city region thinking is a "zombie idea", which refuses to die, though unsupported by evidence. In this paper we trace the influence of city region thinking in the context of rural Scotland and Finland and explore the way in which it coexists with rural development policy. These two case studies provide examples of different approaches to reconciling the received wisdom and traditions of regional/urban and rural development policy. City region thinking is influential in both countries, but policy legacies and governance structures lead to different outcomes. We suggest that city region thinking may become increasingly anachronistic in the post-Covid world and needs to be superseded by rural/regional development paradigms fully refreshed by evidence of twenty-first century rural-urban relationships. • City region thinking is a common rationale for regional development policy, though evidence of its effectiveness is weak. • Multi-level governance agreements are increasingly taking the place of strategies in regional/rural development. • The spread effect rationale may be further weakened by changes in spatial organisation, accelerated by COVID-19 effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the closing paper in a Scottish Educational Review collection on Making Space for Play in Scottish Education. The paper reflects on the key conclusions from the six papers and three notes that comprise the collection. It identifies a baker's dozen of priority actions for those concerned to enrich Scottish education through play, i.e. (i) establishing a shared sense of purpose for play; (ii) crafting a coherent position among those with an interest in promoting play; (iii) acknowledging the role of play in achieving many of the wider goals of school education; (iv) not only promoting the radical potential of play to enhance education, but also thinking critically about it; (v) reflecting on the benefits of playful learning for pupils, wider society and classroom teachers; (vi) sharing exemplars of playful learning and the process through which it is introduced; (vii) reviewing the resources that are available; (viii) specifying minimum play(space) standards; (vix) strengthening the evidence base; (x) reflecting on the significance of the changing nature of play; (xi) engaging practitioners on the value of playful learning beyond the early years; (xii) involving the wider school community in embracing play; and (xiii) supporting teachers and other educational practitioners to utilise playful learning, while being cognisant of the demands and pressures on their time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The starting point of this paper is the Scottish School Grounds Survey of 2005, which provided nationwide insight into the extent to which school grounds were being used as learning environments for children in nursery, primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland. Reflecting specifically on provision for play and the way in which play facilitates formal and informal education, and considering developments in Scotland's school estate over the last decade, this paper argues that Scotland's school grounds are not yet play-full and playful learning environments. The paper concludes by reflecting on ways in which Scotland's school grounds could and should be positioned more centrally in school education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that children in Scotland, as in other high-income countries, are not engaging in sufficient moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), the consequences of which can be adverse for health and wellbeing. In this paper, it is contended that active play (a form of gross motor or total body movement in which children exert energy in a freely chosen, fun, and unstructured manner) has potential to redress this deficit in MVPA. This paper reflects on lessons learned from active play interventions in Scottish schools, providing recommendations for schools on how to encourage more active play. It is argued that promoting active play during school break times and in the after-school period, and participating in active play interventions are promising ways of increasing children's MVPA and improving their fundamental movement skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the opening paper in a Scottish Educational Review collection on Making Space for Play in Scottish Education. It is acknowledged that, historically, a perception of divergent purpose enabled education both to enlist play and to curb play to achieve desired educational outcomes. However, a new understanding of play has emerged in recent years, catalysed globally by the assertion in the UNCRC that play is a fundamental right of the child, and within the UK, by the response of the play sector to the challenge to articulate the value of play that was set by the Dobson report. Scotland is now a globally significant locus for the promotion of play, with strong national play leadership and, since 2013, a National Play Strategy. This paper asserts that it is timely to consider the extent to which Scottish education could and should embrace playful learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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• Some people with learning disabilities experience harassment, fear and anxiety in cities. • People move along regular routes and avoid certain areas and people, and seek out sites of inclusion. • People actions and encounters with others, plus local and wider contexts shape experiences of the city. Disabled people experience significant social discrimination and spatial exclusion in their everyday lives in the city. In recent years, discriminatory acts have increasingly been labelled as 'hate crimes'. We argue that hate crime's association with harassment and violence has obscured the more common prejudicial attitudes and actions, which create anxiety and fear. Further, the paper seeks to shift the disability hate crime discourse from its present focus on individual victimisation, to the micro and local spaces, social relations and wider socio-political contexts, within which these acts emerge. We set out a critique of hate crime discourse, offering instead a relational interpretation of people's experiences of place, drawing on aspects of non-representational theory. We argue that everyday movements through the city and encounters with others, produce senses of anxiety and precarity, as well as experiences of belonging, in the context of structural disablist attitudes. The paper draws on a collaborative research project in a city centre in Scotland, using a methodology of walking interviews and focus groups. The findings are presented in four themes, illustrated by qualitative GIS mapping: (i) recorded and experienced hate crime and harassment in the city; (ii) routes into and mobility within the city; (iii) spaces of fear and anxiety, and inclusion and welcome; and (iv) encounters and relations with others. We conclude by arguing that a relational approach, examining the dynamic unfolding or emergence of people's embodied and emotional experiences and encounters (both negative and positive), in a range of contexts, is a significant contribution to the hate crime debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, however Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved nations with devolved powers within the UK. This paper focuses on the case of Scotland and analyzes for which reason and in which way Scottish devolution was achieved. Before joining England in 1707, Scotland was an independent country; even after the Union, the country was able to maintain some distinctive features and a certain grade of autonomy, therefore the will of the Scots to obtain more local powers from Westminster. This can be seen as the origin of the devolution of powers which was finally reached in the 1990s in Scotland, after several previous attempts. An important role is played by the Scottish Parliament which can legislate on the matters that are not reserved to Westminster. Beyond historical aspects on devolution, this paper focuses also on the case study of Scottish higher education system as an example of a devolved matter. Several are the differences from the English education system that have emerged after devolution, mostly regarding tuition fees for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing use of digital technologies can provide significant benefits to the excavation and interpretative process in archaeology. Yet, despite major developments in the last two decades, digital recording can still be seen as part of the realm of tech savvy archaeologists, well-funded projects, or larger commercial units who can develop their own recording systems or deploy a pre-existing application. The latter are often expensive and can be technologically challenging to implement, and few of these focus on both context recording and feature drawing. In response, this paper presents an accessible and flexible low-cost DIY digital workflow developed by the Comparative Kingship Project, Scotland, allowing field practitioners to benefit from some of the key advantages of "going digital" without the associated costs or complexities of some of the other systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decorated cists have been identified at three burial cairns in Kilmartin Glen, Mid Argyll. The paper provides a new analysis of the cover slab at Nether Largie North, which features a series of pecked axeheads. Previous studies suggested that they replaced an array of cup marks, but the evidence of photogrammetry suggests a longer sequence and a more complex scheme. The same approach was taken to the decorated cists beneath the Nether Largie Mid cairn and a comparable structure at Ri Cruin. Additional depictions were identified. The carvings within all three cists are organised in similar ways. They date from a period in the Early Bronze Age when metal was imported from Ireland. At the same time, the reuse of older structures suggests a new concern with the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Community-based initiatives (CBIs) towards sustainability often receive public funding. • Receipt of public funding links CBIs with policy goals. • Public funding shapes the identity and aspirations of community groups. • Accountability for funding makes CBIs visible and inserts them into governing processes. • While CBIs are mobilised for government agendas, they are also sites of grassroots innovation and transition. Abstract Community-based initiatives (CBIs) towards sustainability are increasing. Their activities and impacts have attracted academic interest but little attention has been given to how CBIs engage with policy and institutional spaces. One way in which CBIs engage with these spaces is through receiving public funding. This paper looks at the challenges and opportunities that public funding presents for community groups. Data for this paper were gathered though interviews with CBIs and public funding bodies. The findings show that CBIs experience challenges negotiating technical and procedural, goals and ways of working, affecting their identity and aspirations. In conclusion, we argue that although public funding is crucial for CBIs, it is accompanied by a range of managerial and technical procedures that enrol CBIs in state accountability mechanisms. This may have the effect of favouring a certain type of CBIs or excluding those that cannot or will not accept public funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I consider the role of animals in gentrification processes, developing a conceptualisation of 'horsification': the proliferation of horses within a locale, resulting directly from (human) residential migration. Horses are a highly charismatic species. Practices of horse keeping offer rich opportunities for encounter, shaping the bodies and knowledge of both horses and their keepers. Utilising examples from a case study in rural Scotland, I describe the affective logics of residential horse keeping and how these logics play out in specific types of economic investment and social interaction. I demonstrate how the materialities of horse bodies are embodied in specific landscape changes: qualities of pasture, styles of fencing and stables, and new sanded manèges, and lead to the territorialisation and contestation of broader rural landscapes. Consideration of animal-human relationships de-centres human agency in gentrification studies, drawing attention to the affective and relational processes of gentrification, and how gentrification is performed and territorialised on an ongoing basis. In conceptualising horsification, I draw attention to the agency of more-than-human actors and the role of land in gentrification processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses educational inequality of access to higher education for Scottish rural communities. Inequality results from the sole use of a national socio-economic index in order to meet a key milestone for higher education goal. I show (1) how the use of this index can have adverse effects on these communities and (2) how contextual considerations of rural education research could mitigate these effects and enrich policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All sites have a climate change story. Interpretation of climate change at historic sites has largely been limited to global warming's physical impacts. This paper provides case studies from the U.S. and Scotland of places where practitioners are working to expand beyond that framework to add new relevance and impact to climate change interpretation. Historic and natural places can be interpreted to make powerful connections, showing visitors how we came to this moment of climate crisis and helping them understand their roles in addressing this challenge. Especially as climate change intensifies and threatens not just the natural and historic places we admire, but our own homes and ways of life, it becomes increasingly important we connect with our past to secure our future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2018 and 2020, CyArk, Google Arts and Culture and the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) worked together on the Heritage on the Edge project. Launched on the Google Arts and Culture platform in January 2020, this project utilised a range of techniques to highlight the impacts and local experiences of climate change at five cultural World Heritage Sites in Bangladesh, Peru, Rapa Nui, Scotland and Tanzania. All five sites are experiencing different climate change impacts and each has been responding and adapting to these challenges in unique and locally appropriate ways. The project illustrates both the value of collaboration between different organisations, and the role of this historic environment in climate change communication and public engagement. This paper will introduce the project aims, objectives and methodology with a particular focus on the project review and web analytics for the six-month period following the project launch. Results suggest global meaningful engagement with some considerable gaps especially in low and middle-income countries. It concludes by exploring some useful lessons for future digital projects, exploring ways to increase geographical reach and improve viewer engagement, and to ensure more equitable collaborations with partner sites and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that the Caledonian Paper unit of UPM Inc. will install a high consistency bleaching plant at its site in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland as part of its regular strategic assessment.

In this paper, I examine two alternative responses to the depopulation of marginal rural areas: 'repeopling' (repopulation) and 'rewilding' (often defined as ecosystem restoration via mammal reintroductions). Specifically, I aim to clarify large-scale land managers' perspectives on rewilding and repeopling, as well as how these perspectives relate to their land management practices. I focus my research on Scotland for three reasons: (1.) it is a country with significant marginal rural areas; (2.) it hosts many large-scale landowners; and (3.) 'rewilding' and 'repeopling' are present in the country's political discourse. To answer my research questions, I conducted structured interviews with eight large-scale land managers (representing conservation NGOs, community land trusts, and private estates) in a single marginal rural area in the Scottish Highlands. I conducted a thematic analysis of their perspectives on rewilding and repeopling, as well as their land management practices. In relation to perspectives, I found that 'rewilding' is a controversial term in the study site, and this controversy seems in part to relate to the term's diverse, often ambiguous, interpretations. Repeopling was more broadly supported, though with qualifications. In relation to land management practices, I found that conservation activities were dominant in the study site. From a political ecological perspective, the prominence of conservation activities even on lands managed by interviewees who opposed rewilding might be seen as an example of territorialisation by conservation actors. In contrast, one interviewee focused on renewable energy development which, by bridging conservation and repopulation concerns, could be interpreted as an instance of counterterritorialisation. • Highlights for "Rewilding and repeopling in Scotland: large-scale land managers' perspectives and practices". • 'Rewilding' is a controversial term in this study site. • 'Repeopling' is more broadly supported, though with qualifications. • Available funding steers land management towards conservation activities. • Renewable energy offers a controversial alternative to conservation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ecological and social desirability of forest regeneration in uplands is disputed. • We propose a conceptual framework for comparative discourse analysis. • We identify three discourses within four European protected areas. • Discourses derive from different ecologies, ideas, interests and institutions. • Power struggles and discourse-coalitions shape forest regeneration policies. Forest regeneration is a major land-use change in European uplands, and whether or not this is a desirable change for biodiversity is disputed. While this debate seems to be largely situated in the field of natural sciences, this paper aims to also examine its social dimensions. To do so, we adopt a comparative discourse analysis with four cases of protected areas in France, Spain, and Scotland. We draw on a conceptual framework highlighting both the ecological and social factors underpinning the construction of environmental discourses. It notably emphasises the role of interests, ideas and institutions, and the power dynamics underpinning discourse-coalitions. We show how diverging discourses emerged, gained ground, coalesced and competed differently in different contexts, explaining the adoption of seemingly opposite discourses by protected area authorities. These findings reaffirm the need to conceive environmental governance as an on-going deliberative process in order to achieve environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy and just transition are key dimensions of the sustainability challenges of the 21st century. These concepts are ambiguous and meanings differ among actors, sectors and contexts. This paper examines the circular economy and a just transition to net-zero in the Scottish context, where both are prominent in national policy discourses and central to the work of Zero Waste Scotland. It is based on qualitative research, co-designed with Zero Waste Scotland, to explore how rural residents in Scotland understand the circular economy and just transition, in their everyday lives and communities. This is an under-researched area and our findings add new knowledge useful for implementing sustainability policies in a rural context. Focus groups were carried out in three rural areas, engaging with a range of residents in a deliberative setting. The findings support the need for a more collaborative, whole systems approach that moves beyond siloed thinking and which focuses on local capacity and knowledge building for transitions to more sustainable rural communities. • Qualitative research of how rural residents in Scotland understand sustainability concepts. • Circular economy and just transition are understood in limited and transformative ways in rural communities. • Findings show scepticism among rural communities about current policy and practice and a need for more collaborative models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]