Dr Natasha Coleman

Personal statement:

I am an interdisciplinary Social Scientist with a background in Human Geography and a focus on rural change, land use, and human–more-than-human relations. Prior to joining SRUC’s Rural Policy Centre as a Research Assistant, I worked at Forest Research, co-delivering projects on biosecurity, climate resilience, and wildlife management. This included applying behaviour change approaches, designing stakeholder workshops, surveys, and interviews, and contributing to policy-facing evidence reviews.

I completed my PhD in Human Geography and Rural Studies at Swansea University in 2023, exploring land use change through the lens of gamekeeping and rural livelihoods. I’m primarily a qualitative researcher.

Key topic areas of research or interest:

• Rural land use
• Working rural practice (forestry, game management)
• Human-wildlife interaction
• Climate and environmental change
• Research-practice

Publications:

Paper (in Progress): ‘The Good Gamekeeper’: Redefining the Role a Changing Countryside – submitted to Journal of Sociologia Ruralis.