The Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen has appointed Professor Richard Aspinall as its new Chief Executive. Professor Aspinall will take over as Chief Executive of the Institute – where he previously worked between 1987 and 1997 on a wide variety of land use topics – on 18 September 2006. He is returning to the Macaulay after nine years in the USA, where he has been Professor and Chair of the School of Geographical Sciences at the Arizona State University since 2004.

Professor Aspinall said: “I am delighted to be returning to the Institute with its world-class reputation, outstanding staff, and remit to address questions that are central to policy and management for sustainable use of land, both in Scotland and beyond.

“I am particularly keen to enhance the Institute’s links with rural communities, land managers, and policy makers.”

Professor Aspinall’s research addresses the interdisciplinary aspects of land use and related change – particularly in rural areas – and set within the context of sustainable development. This has included a particular focus on an understanding of coupled natural and human systems. The Macaulay Institute is the largest organisation in Europe undertaking interdisciplinary research of this type.

Chairman of the Macaulay Institute Board of Governors, Michael Gibson, CBE said he was delighted with the appointment, and welcomed Professor Aspinall on behalf of the Board.

He said: “Richard was chosen from an exceptionally strong field of applicants and, as Chairman, I am delighted to welcome him back to the Macaulay after a very distinguished spell in the USA. Richard particularly excited the Selection Panel with his enthusiasm, vision and commitment for the Institute and I look forward to working with him over the months and years ahead.”

After leaving the Institute in 1997, Professor Aspinall became a Professor of Geography in the Department of Earth Sciences, and Director of the Geographic Information and Analysis Centre at Montana State University until 2004, during which time he spent two years as Programme Director of the Geography and Regional Science Programme at the US National Science Foundation in Washington DC. During the past year, he has acted as interim co-Chair of the Global Land Project (GLP) to establish the governance, management and organisational structures to support the GLP.

Professor Bill Ritchie will continue to act as Interim Chief Executive of the Institute until Professor Aspinall’s takes up his new role in September. Professor Ritchie has been at the Macaulay on a temporary basis since the previous Chief Executive, Professor Margaret Gill, took up the post of Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) in February this year.

The Macaulay Institute is the premier land use research institute in the UK. Two hundred and seventy staff are based at the Macaulay Institute at Craigiebuckler in Aberdeen. The Macaulay Institute aims to be an international leader in research on the sustainable use of land and its natural resources for the benefit of people, their communities and the environment, and is involved in research across the globe; from Scotland to Chile and China. More about the Macaulay Institute can be found at
www.macaulay.ac.uk

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