I am a social scientist researcher based at the James Hutton Institute. I have interests in using qualitative methods to focus on exploring farmer and animal owner behaviour in relation to disease, biosecurity and best practice as a means to change and as an indicator of potential barriers. Exploring the aspect of barriers to farmers I would like to explore biosecurity for island and remote based farmers and how that impacts on movement and quarantine. An aligned area of research is in peer-to-peer learning and change for farmers, particularly in relation to innovation uptake and impact. I am currently focusing on developing digital and virtual tools as a method to explore behaviour and perception of people engaging with the environment. These tools can also be used to enhance engagement with stakeholders using visualisation of place and space. I have led the production of the Hutton DigiForest environment and a number of virtual reality tours of Hutton research sites.
I combine my day job with running the family sheep farm and can offer insight to daily and seasonal challenges farmers may encounter.
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