The Arkleton Trust

I had a long (nearly 30-year) association with the Arkleton Trust. The Arkleton Trust was established by the late Sir John Higgs, his colleague at UN-FAO David Moore, and other friends in 1974 as an international, but UK based, Charity devoted to the study of ‘new approaches to rural development and education’. It has done this through international seminars and study tours, Fellowships, and other awards, as well as considerable networking activity.  David Moore was its first Programme Director, handing over to myself in 1980 (a year after I was its first Fellow!). I was succeeded by Nicola Swan in 2007.

In 1985, we established two subsidiaries, The Arkleton Trust (Research) Ltd and The Arkleton Trust (Rurtel) ltd, the first to run the Trust’s research activities, the second to run the computer conferencing and email system ‘Rurtel’ which served the Trust’s research activities and partners as well as NGOs and associations in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland where I was living and working at that time. The Arkleton Trust (Research) Ltd became the Arkleton Centre (later Institute) for Rural Development Research at Aberdeen University when I moved to take up the Chair of Human Geography there in 1995. The Arkleton Trust (Rurtel) was closed when BT took over ‘Rurtel’ in the 1993.

For further information see: http://www.arkletontrust.co.uk