Mr Philip Gould

Combining an archaeological and palaeoenvironmental background, combining palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data to explore human-ecological relationships in the Scottish Highlands. Previous research focused on peatland conservation and management, using pollen analysis to build narratives of past landscape change. Future research aims to investigate past human-ecology relationships of past Highland landscapes to provide a localised framework for conservation and management of landscape, integrating indigenous cultural knowledge and pasts with future landscape management to the benefit of local communities, furthering deep place knowledge, place attachment and sense of belonging in the landscape.

The health of Scotland’s Highland landscape is of growing international concern, with focus on climate driven change and the impact on ecological and cultural resilience. Land managers are making decisions around the future management plans for large areas in northern Scotland, with the aim of increasing the resilience of areas of conservation value, rural economies, and cultural heritage retention. Pre-clearance Highland history has been under researched and has the potential to re-connect communities with their past; while palaeoenvironmental records for peatlands can be used to aid and advise landscape conservation and management, locally and globally important in discussions around mitigating climate change.