The official launch of Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, the Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership, took place at the Senedd on 10 July, marking the start of a new three-year project, that will use research and innovation to address the challenges facing rural Wales. The project is hosted by WISERD and the Rural Futures Hub at Aberystwyth University and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The project aims to support economic regeneration, inclusive and sustainable growth, and wellbeing in rural Wales by connecting policymakers, practitioners and communities in an ambitious programme of research, innovation and knowledge exchange activities. These will include innovation labs, community-led action research, surveys, short research projects, data analysis and mapping, and public engagement – all of which will respond to emerging issues and evidence needs.
This inclusive approach has been informed by an extensive process of consultation with a range of stakeholders over the last year, including workshops in pilot communities, which have served to highlight the key challenges facing the region. The project has the following four priority themes at its core: ‘Building a Regenerative Economy’, ‘Supporting the Net Zero Transition’, ‘Empowering Communities for Cultural Recovery’ and ‘Enhancing Wellbeing in Place’.
In addition to researchers based at Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), the project will also involve experts from organisations such as Together for Change, the Centre for Alternative Technology, Antur Cymru Enterprise, Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig (DEG), Rural Health and Care Wales (RHCW), Represent Us Rural and Sgema.
The event was chaired by WISERD Co-Director, Professor Mike Woods, who is leading the project and was sponsored by Elin Jones MS. Around 70 people attended from over 40 organisations, including several Senedd Members.
Professor Woods said: “Our approach is underpinned by seven key principles: partnership, co-production, responsive to emerging issues, solution-oriented, empowering, inclusive and accessible to the public.
“We want the data and results from our research to be useful and used by all. That will partly be done through the Online Integrated Evidence Hub for Rural Wales that the WISERD data team are building, which will integrate existing data from various sources and be a repository for data and evidence from our work programme.”
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