Robert Dodgshon

Group Affiliation

• Cultural and Historical Geography Research Group

Research Interests

Recent and current work by Professor Dodgshon has focussed on two research themes.

First, he has long worked on the long-term history of rural communities and their economy in theScottishHighlandsandIslands. A summary of this work has been written up in a book on the long-term evolution ofHighlandcultural landscapes, that is currently being prepared for publication.

Second, he is currently working on a book-length study that looks at the history of Alpine communities since 1500, including changes in their strategies of resource use, property rights and the use of common resources, inheritance practices, how they coped with risk, and their environmental/ecological impact. This work has been supported by a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship.

Professor Robert Dodgshon holds BA and PhD degrees from the University of Liverpool. First joining the department in 1970 as a lecturer, he was promoted to a professorship in 1988, held the Gregynog Chair of Human Geography, 2000-07, and served as Director of the Institute 1998-03, before taking full retirement at the end of 2007.

In addition to holding the Murchison Award from the RGS and the Scottish Geographical Medal from the RSGS, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academyin 2002 and a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in 2010.

Between 1997-2004, he served as a member of the Countryside Council for Wales and, for a time, was their appointed member on the UK Government's Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Between 2000-08, he has been a council member of the National Trust for England and Wales. Between 1998-2008, he was President of the Society for Landscape Studies.