Cabinet Secretary joins international researchers at The James Hutton Institute for symposium on Scottish land reform in a global context
Professor Lee-Ann Sutherland with Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, Mairi Gougeon MSP, and Dr Annie McKee at the Immersive Suite.
Academics, practitioners and policy makers – including the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, Mairi Gougeon MSP – gathered at The James Hutton Institute’s Craigiebuckler campus in Aberdeen this week for the Scotland Land Reform Futures International Symposium.
The symposium, which was funded by the Scottish Government, gave researchers a chance to showcase their work around land reform in Scotland and learn from international experience.
It was held over two days at the new Hutton Hub, a state-of-the-art development financed by the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, the Macaulay Development Trust and the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The new facility includes cutting-edge facilities such as conference suites, meeting rooms, touch tables, VR headsets and a 360-degree Immersive Suite.
The main theme of the symposium was Achieving collaboration, cooperation, and a just transition in land: lessons from and challenges facing Scottish land reform. Topics of discussion and key questions included:
- What can Scotland offer in terms of knowledge and leadership in global discussions around land and rural development?
- How do models and methods that aim to support equitable land access work in other countries, and what is the role of the public sector?
- What can we learn from other countries to support land access for new entrants to agriculture, climate-friendly food production, and the Just Transition?
- The opportunities and challenges in ensuring land data transparency in Scotland and internationally.
“I was delighted to attend the Scottish Land Reform Futures International symposium at the new Hutton Hub in Aberdeen. Coming off the recent passage of the landmark Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, this was a perfect moment to celebrate Scotland’s progress on Land Reform and to look to the future.”
Mairi Gougeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands
Speakers included the Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon MSP and Michael Russell, chair of the Scottish Land Commission, as well as a host of researchers and experts from across the UK, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Japan. Participants also joined online from across Scotland and Europe.
Along with the talks, attendees had the opportunity to present their own work at a “research marketplace” and enjoyed an informal conference dinner with music from Hazlehead Academy pupils.
Films produced by Dr Penelope Anthias, one of the keynote speakers were also shown in the Immersive Suite, highlighting experiences of community land struggles in Latin America.
The symposium was organised members of the Hutton’s Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, with Dr Annie McKee and Dr Naomi Beingessner taking the lead. The project team also involved colleagues from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).
Dr McKee said, “One of the key goals of the symposium was to create new international research collaborations and to develop a shared understanding on the lessons emerging from Scottish land reform to contribute to wider debates around land and agrarian reform around the world. We hope that the key themes from this event can feed into international forums such as the Second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20), which will be held in Colombia in February 2026.”
Land Reform Secretary Mairi Gougeon said, “I was delighted to attend the Scottish Land Reform Futures International symposium at the new Hutton Hub in Aberdeen. Coming off the recent passage of the landmark Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, this was a perfect moment to celebrate Scotland’s progress on Land Reform and to look to the future.
“I would like to thank The James Hutton Institute and all involved for bringing together a wealth of expertise spanning multiple continents, developing important connections which will help to inform future Land Reform policy and research.”
A report on the symposium will be published in Spring 2026.
