Location: Kingussie, Cairngorms National Park
Autumn 2018
This year's ialeUK student workshop will offer participants with research interests in rewilding the opportunity to take part in a residential trip to the Cairngorms, Scotland, where field visits to local sites will be combined with talks from expert speakers and discussions with peers. The event will take place in collaboration with Cairngorms Connect, a partnership of neighbouring land managers who are undertaking the largest habitat restoration project in Britain.
Rewilding, with a focus on restoring natural processes and ecological dynamics, falls within the framework of restoration ecology and embraces progressive interdisciplinary science. As such, there are many links to be made with landscape ecology, which explores the relationships between landscape pattern and the social and ecological processes occurring on land, freshwater and sea.
Nature will not thrive if restricted to small reserves that are disconnected from each other, and landscape ecology has grown from theories such as SLOSS (single large or several small), ecological networks and ‘bigger, better, more, joined’. All of these theories also have relevance to rewilding. Rewilding is also the subject of legitimate concerns, and it is recognised that citizens have a stake in any 'future natures' which emerge. Thus, landscape ecology can have an important bridging role, helping us to understand both ecological processes and societal viewpoints. We find ourselves at an exciting time in the design and innovation phase of rewilding, and landscape ecology research has a lot to offer this.
There will be a focus on thinking about how research methods in landscape ecology can both inform and learn from rewilding, thinking across scales, and over long times periods.
Keep an eye out here for information on dates, speakers and how to apply for a place.
Any questions please contact: students@iale.uk