Dr Keith Matthews

Dr Matthews is a senior research scientist with 19 years experience of working in and leading, inter-disciplinary research across social, natural and computational sciences. He is Work Package Coordinator for Rural Industries. His work for SEFARI also includes how rural economies can adapt to external drivers, and the  environmental sustainability and circularity of the rural economy.

Keith Matthews

The James Hutton Institute
Craigiebuckler
Aberdeen AB15 8QH
Scotland UK

The Demographic Challenges Facing Scotland's Sparsely Populated Areas

This case study summarises ongoing work exploring how changes in the population of remote and rural areas in Scotland affect the social, economic and ecological resilience of these areas. The Sparsely Populated Areas (SPA) of Scotland have a demographic legacy which, in the absence of intervention, will result in decades of population decline, and shrinkage of its working-age population, on a scale which implies serious challenges for economic development, and consequences for its landscape and ecology which are poorly understood.

Climate Change - Discussing Extreme Scenarios

Climate change and the impact it will have presents significant challenges to our future. The effects will be felt across many sectors of society and will influence our personal and professional lives in some profound ways. Some of these impacts have not been identified yet and even when they have they can still be difficult to assess, both in terms of how important they will be and what knock-on effects they will have.