Who we are

Professor at Newcastle University & Trustee at Carnegie UK

Professor Mark Shucksmith OBE, FacSS, FRSA is Professor of Planning at Newcastle University and NTCA Inclusive Economy Board member.

Mark was also Director of Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal from 2012-18. Mark’s main areas of research include social exclusion in rural areas, rural housing, rural development, social and economic change and rural policy.

Recent books include: Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies (2016); InterAction (2016); Rural Policies and Rural Transformations in the UK and US (2012); and Future Directions in Rural Development (2012). He has published over 100 papers in learned journals and advised governments in several countries. He is currently leading a new study of financial hardship in rural Britain, funded by the Standard Life Foundation.

Mark is a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust, and of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). He was a Board Member of the Commission for Rural Communities and Countryside Agency from 2005-13, a member of the Government’s Affordable Rural Housing Commission (CLG/DEFRA 2005-06), and Chair of the Scottish Government’s Committee of Inquiry into Crofting (2007-08). He was Special Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Rural Economy 2018/19 and the Select Committee on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2017/18.

Mark was awarded the honour of OBE in 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.