Dr Naomi Beingessner

Research

My research focuses on socio-economic impacts of land use and ownership change on rural peoples. My interests include property theory, food systems, multi-stakeholder decision making, and environmental land management. I have substantial experience with qualitative data collection and analysis, community research and engaged scholarship through my PhD and MA research and a three-year position managing a social science and humanities-based community research institute in a Canadian university.

Ongoing and recent projects

• Co-investigator and acting principal investigator (2024) in the Scotland’s Land Reform Futures project under the umbrella of the ‘Rural Futures’ theme in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027), funded under the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division of the Scottish Government.
• Team lead, Supporting Scotland’s Land Use Transformations project, under the umbrella of the ‘Human Impacts on the Environment’ theme in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027), funded under the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division of the Scottish Government.
• Co-Investigator, Reversing the Gaze: Knowledge stories on community land rights, funded by an ESRC New Investigator Grant.
• Co-investigator, Reviewing guidance on engaging communities in decisions relating to land, funded by Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services (RESAS) Division of the Scottish Government Underpinning National Capacity Support to Policy Function.

Past research

• Principal investigator, Triggering environmental transformation on large land holdings, funded by UKRI Agrifood4NetZero.
• Principal investigator, Developing dialogues on land use decision making for natural capital, funded by SEFARI Innovative Knowledge Exchange Fund.
• The Socio-Economic Impacts of “Green” Land Investment in Rural Scotland, funded under the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division of the Scottish Government.
• A literature review of the social and economic impacts of land use change, funded by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government Underpinning National Capacity Support to Policy Function.
• PhD dissertation, “Changing relations of agricultural land tenure and access in the Canadian Prairies”, advances the understanding of the social construction of property and contestation over the meaning and consequences of private property in land, particularly as it relates to sustainable land management and the public good.