Biography
Deb is Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Science, responsible for overseeing our five Science Departments. She is a member of the SEFARI Directors Committee and responsible for progressing the Institute’s impact and open science agenda. Since 2017 she has chaired the Institute’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, moving to co-Chair with the CEO from 2023. Deb is a Director of ClimateXChange and leads on Macaulay Development Trust funding opportunities.
Deb has over 30 years of experience in rural economic analysis with particular research interests in agricultural and environmental policies, regional development and social wellbeing issues in rural areas. In addition to her role at Hutton, Deb holds an Honorary Chair at the University of Aberdeen Business School. In 2024 Deb became a Scottish Land Commissioner and she is currently President of the Agricultural Economics Society.
Research
Deb has research interests in a number of inter-related areas. First, in relation to rural and regional development she focuses on understanding how and why rural economies are unique, the key drivers for change, and reasons for regional disparities. Second, in relation to the policy, she has focussed on modelling the economy-wide impacts of changes in farm, forestry and structural policies using social accounting methods and general equilibrium models. She has also carried research at the micro-level looking at farm household behaviour and the dynamics of fuel poverty. Increasingly her work has considered the importance of allowing for spatial effects and interdependencies in understanding rural markets including, for example, the spatial pattern of farm household transactions, and links between rural and urban housing markets arising from commuting and counterurbanisation.
Ongoing and recent projects
Publications
The following Publications have not yet been migrated to the James Hutton Institute's Pure service and relate to the research outputs from the two legacy organisations: The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and The Scottish Crop Research Institute.
Journals
Prior to appointment
- Laing, R.; Buda, G.; Devaney S.; Roberts, D. (2011) Built environment higher education in Scotland: pressures, challenges and change in uncertain times., CEBE Transactions, 8, 41-59.
- Johnson, T.J.; Roberts, D.J.; Wojan, T.R. (2010) Model-based evaluation of rural development policies., Eurochoices, 9, 30-36.
- Roberts, D.; Newlands, D. (2010) The economic integration of new sectors in rural areas: a case study of the Shetland economy., Environment and Planning A, 42, 2687-2704.
- Phimister, E.; Roberts, D. (2006) The effect of off-farm work on the intensity of agricultural production., Environmental and Resource Economics, 34, 493-515.
- Shucksmith, M.; Thomson, K.J.; Roberts, D. (eds.) (2005) The CAP and the regions: the territorial impact of the Common Agricultural Policy., CABI Publishing, Wallingford, 250p. ISBN 978-0851990552
- Roberts, D. (2005) The role of households in sustaining rural economies: a structural path analysis., European Review of Agricultural Economics, 32, 393-420.
- Thomson, K.; Roberts, D. (2004) The Common Agricultural Policy and its territorial impact., Territoires 2020, DATAR (Delegation a l’amenagement du territoire et a l’action regionale.) Summer, 2004.
Conference papers
- Phimister, E.; Roberts, D.; Gilbert, A. (2004) The dynamics of farm incomes in Scotland., The Future of Rural Development Conference, Aberdeen, December 2004.
- Phimister, E.; Roberts, D.; Gilbert, A. (2002) The dynamics of farm incomes in Scotland: panel data analysis using the Farm accounts Survey., Agricultural Economics Society Annual Conference, 76th, Aberystwyth, 8-11 April 2002.
- Gelan, A.; Roberts, D. (2001) Commuting costs and rural development., Regional Studies Association Annual Conference, Durham, 4-6 September 2001.
- Roberts, D.; Gelen, A. (2001) The changing economic base of rural areas: non-traditional sources of income in the Western Isles., Agricultural Economics Society Annual Conference, Harper Adams, England, 10-13 September 2001. Unpublished.
Conference posters / abstracts
- Courtney, P.; Hill, G.W.; Roberts, D. (2002) The role of the natural heritage in rural development: An empirical analysis of economic linkages in Scotland., The Rural Research Conference of the RICS Foundation, in association with the University of Gloucestershire, ROOTS 2002. Abstract
- Roberts, D.J.; Crabtree, J.R. (1999) Forestry’s contribution to the wider economy : a comparison of the economic benefits flowing from different woodland types., IUFRO Symposium on New Opportunities for Forest-related Rural Development, Aberdeen, August 1999.
