Find more funding
There are many other organisations who may be offering funding that will help you, and our handy funding search tool brings them all together.
New report calls for more ethical and reciprocal research with Scotland’s community landowners
Study finds communities are overwhelmed by research requests and urges a more collaborative, beneficial approach for both researchers and participants.
A new report from the Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) highlights growing concerns about how research is conducted with Scotland’s community landowners and sets out recommendations for creating more ethical, equitable and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Beyond Ethics? Research Engagement with Scotland’s Community Landowners was produced by Catriona Mallows and Bobby Macaulay and funded through SEFARI Gateway on behalf of the Scottish Government’s Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Research Portfolio.
The report finds that as community landownership has expanded across Scotland, so too have requests from researchers seeking information and participation from community organisations. Previous CLAN research revealed that many communities felt overwhelmed by the volume of requests, had limited influence over research design, and often saw little direct benefit from the studies in which they participated.
Drawing on workshops, secondary data analysis and a literature review undertaken throughout 2025, the project explored how relationships between researchers and community landowners could be improved. Key recommendations include engaging communities at the earliest stages of projects, maintaining clear and transparent communication, ensuring informed consent throughout the research process, and creating more opportunities for communities to shape research priorities and governance. The report also highlights the importance of recognising community capacity, sharing resources more fairly, building trust, and ensuring research findings are returned in accessible and useful formats.
Importantly, the authors note that ethical challenges are often driven not by individual researchers but by wider institutional pressures such as funding constraints, timescales and university expectations. As a result, the report recommends developing a formal research protocol to help set shared expectations for researchers and communities alike, while encouraging universities and research organisations to review their own structures and incentives.
The report concludes that stronger collaboration, greater reciprocity and a commitment to shared benefit are essential if research is to support, rather than burden, Scotland’s community landowners.
Find out more:
The Good, The Bad, The Better? Beyond Ethics? Research Engagement with Scotland’s Community Landowners.
