Dr Ian Robson has won a research grant award of £5,000 for the Scottish Innovation Scheme funded by SFC to analyse community engagement dynamics in the onshore energy sector in Scotland.

He will be working for much of the next three months with Neo Environmental Ltd, an environmental consultancy firm based in Glasgow, to evaluate their community engagement services and the aims and objectives expressed in this work by their energy clients in solar, wind, mining and unconventional gas projects.

Secondly Dr Robson will be working with community groups in the Stirling and Falkirk areas to debate and analyse engagement styles from the perspective of affected communities and other stakeholders including community action groups, planning authorities, local politicians and media organisations. He will be exploring communitarian business models in the energy sector with these stakeholder groups and reporting on the relevance and effectiveness of business models and engagement practices within the theoretical frame of legitimacy, power and trust.