Current projects

Further Development of Slow Adventure®

Although the Slow Adventure in Northern Territories project finished in April 2018 (see ‘previous projects’), the team is exploring or working on various initiatives to continue to develop slow adventure as both a marketing brand and label and an ethos or movement:

• Attendance at the Adventure Travel World Summit in Tuscany in October 2018
• EU and national funding applications to further develop slow adventure
• Slow Adventure^® has been trademarked by CRTR in the EU, Iceland and Norway

West Highland College is a founding member of the Slow Adventure Co-operative, which will be a one-stop-shop to allow its members to market slow adventure tourism packages collaboratively, provide the necessary legal protection for consumers and members, and engage in strategic marketing to promote its slow adventure products. Visit www.slowadventure.scot for details on the slow adventures developed in Scotland.

The other slow adventures that have been developed in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Finland and Northern Ireland, as well as a transnational #slowadventuring marketing campaign, can be followed via https://www.facebook.com/slowadventuring/ or https://www.instagram.com/slowadventuring/ or on the transnational landing page www.slowadventure.org. Slow adventure blog pieces can be viewed on www.letsgoslow.com

Co-creating cultural narratives for sustainable rural development (CULTIVATE)

CULTIVATE seeks to understand the role of cultural heritage in shaping sustainable landscapes and communities in the context of societal challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and transitions required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  This research will explore how cultural narratives are co-created, contested and negotiated at community, regional and national scales using methods that bring to the fore cultural values, identity and relationships between people and land.  Cultural narratives will be reshaped using the ‘Seeds of a good Anthropocene’ methodology which focuses on using inspirational visions and stories to achieve transformations to sustainability.

The project will have valuable impact in real world socio-ecological systems by conducting research across four Biosphere Reserves which represent a diverse spectrum of rural cultural landscapes with an ethos of scientific-based management and community engagement.

The four partners are University of the Highlands and Islands (Centre for Mountain Studies leading), Czech University of Life Sciences, University of Bergen and Estonian University of Life Sciences.  The project runs for three years from June 2021 and has a total budget of €795,645.  CULTIVATE is financed through the Joint Programming Initiative for Cultural Heritage and Global Change, with UK activity funded through AHRC.

Tourism (In)justice: Rendering a Spatial Justice Approach for Tourism

Funded through UKRI and led by Dr Anna de Jong at the University of Glasgow, the centre is a partner, along with researchers in Spain and Sweden, in a five-year collaboration (2023-28) to understand the form and process of (in)justice as it unfolds within specific place-based contexts, rendering a new conceptual framework for tourism research.

Developing rural community collaborations to integrate community assets with healthcare systems to reduce place-based health inequalities

Funded through UKRI and led by Dr Sara Bradley at the University of South Wales, the centre will be working with Highlands’ partners on a project to develop and test a replicable collaborative model for integrating rural community assets with the statutory healthcare system with the aim of reducing rural place-based health inequalities.  The project runs from 2024 to 2027.

Healthy Young Minds: co-producing a nature-based intervention with rural High School students to promote their mental well-being and reduce anxiety

Also funded through UKRI and led by Dr Sara Bradley at the University of South Wales, the centre is a collaborating locally to co-produce an early intervention programme with rural High School students to promote mental well-being, increase resilience and reduce anxiety through engagement with nature and local greenspaces.  Lasting 18 months, the project runs from January 2024.

Inspiring Visitor Engagement with Rural Cultural Heritage Tourism

Funded through the Scottish Government’s Arctic Connections programme, the goal of this project, developed in collaboration with the University of Lapland, is to work with smaller, less-visited destinations to develop a digital platform to help them to position themselves within the tourism market and digitally preserve their heritage. Using community-curated content, they can promote themselves in a way that is sustainable, accommodates the needs of locals, and curates and celebrates their histories. This pilot study is working with communities in Arctic Finland and the Highlands to co-create a methodology for a mobile phone app and audio trail.

Regenerative tourism at the Telford Corpach Marina

One of a range of small-scale knowledge exchange projects that the centre is undertaking in 2023-24, this initiative is funded through Interface’s Innovation Voucher scheme. This funding allows staff at CRTR to undertake research exploring ways that the marina can introduce new practices in line with the principles of regenerative tourism that would improve the products, services and experiences that they can offer visiting sailors, while also benefiting the local community.  These could include:

• Exploring ways of encouraging visitors to stay for longer and explore more of Fort William and its environs, thus benefiting local businesses and the wider area.
• Exploring ways of promoting activities in the local area that are achievable for visiting sailors who do not have a car to use, benefiting local sustainable travel.