Overview

Rebecca Wheeler is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Rural Policy Research (CRPR). Her current research interests include:

- Farmer attitudes, behaviour and decision-making in relation to the environment, including agri-environment schemes, landscape-scale management and adaptation to climate change.

- Health and wellbeing in the agricultural community

- Public engagement with farming and nature; farmer-community relationships

- Social and cultural geographies of place and landscape, including heritage, temporality and the oral histories of everyday landscapes

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Research

My research covers a range of issues within the broad area of rural social science. My current interests include:

- Farmer attitudes, behaviour and decision-making in relation to the environment, including agri-environment schemes, landscape-scale management and adaptation to climate change.

- Health and wellbeing in the agricultural community

- Public engagement with farming and nature; farmer-community relationships

- Social and cultural geographies of place and landscape, including heritage, temporality and the oral histories of everyday landscapes

Since joining the CRPR, I have been involved in a number of large research projects, including: Defra's Sustainable Intensification Research Platform (SIP) (which investigated the potential for intensifying agricultural land management to produce more food whilst also improving environmental management); an evaluation of the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme for Natural England; and the Hampshire Avon Demonstration Test Catchment project (looking at farmer attitudes and practices around diffuse water pollution.

Research group links

• Centre for Rural Policy Research
• Department of Sociology and Philosophy

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Projects

• Future Farming Resilience Fund Interim Phase Evaluation - funded by: DEFRA (via Ipsos MORI)
• Overcoming the Knowledge to Action Gap - funded by: Forest Research
• Agricultural Wellbeing - funded by: Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI)
• Loneliness, social isolation and mental health in farming communities: An analysis of social and cultural factors - funded by: Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Network (funded by UKRI)
• Collaboration and Incentives Commission – Exploring the effectiveness of collaborative mechanisms, incentives and alternative approaches for delivering environmental outcomes at large spatial scales through ELM - funded by: Defra

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Supervision

I am currently supervising the following PhD researchers:

Hannah Mortimer: Feeding beef cattle: Regenerative practices, perceptions and performances of the 'good farmer' in Devon, England.

Skylar Collins: Understanding risk, safety and mental health challenges in UK small-scale fisheries

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Publications

_{Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.}

| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |

2023

• Nye C, Wheeler R. (2023) ‘I’ve Got Nothing Against Vegans… But’: To Divulge, Dissemble or Divert Positionality in Rural Research Settings, Food Ethics, volume 8, no. 2, DOI:10.1007/s41055-023-00128-4.
• Wheeler R, Lobley M. (2023) Anxiety and Associated Stressors Among Farm Women in England and Wales, J Agromedicine, volume 28, no. 4, pages 769-783, DOI:10.1080/1059924X.2023.2200421. [PDF]
• Rose DC, Budge H, Carolan M, Hall J, Hammersley C, Knook J, Lobley M, Nye C, O'Reilly A, Shortland F. (2023) Farming wellbeing through and beyond COVID‐19: Stressors, gender differences and landscapes of support, Sociologia Ruralis, volume 63, no. S1, pages 3-10, DOI:10.1111/soru.12425.

2022

• Wheeler R, Lobley M, McCann J, Phillimore A. (2022) ‘It's a lonely old world’: Developing a multidimensional understanding of loneliness in farming, Sociologia Ruralis, volume 63, no. S1, pages 11-36, DOI:10.1111/soru.12399. [PDF]
• Wheeler R, Lobley M. (2022) Health-related quality of life within agriculture in England and Wales: results from a EQ-5D-3L self-report questionnaire, BMC Public Health, volume 22, no. 1, article no. 1395, DOI:10.1186/s12889-022-13790-w. [PDF]

2021

• Wheeler R, Lobley M. (2021) Managing extreme weather and climate change in UK agriculture: Impacts, attitudes and action among farmers and stakeholders, Climate Risk Management, volume 32, DOI:10.1016/j.crm.2021.100313.
• Rose DC, Wheeler R, Winter M, Lobley M, Chivers CA. (2021) Agriculture 4.0: Making it work for people, production, and the planet, Land Use Policy, volume 100, DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104933.

2018

• Lobley M, Winter D, Wheeler R. (2018) The Changing World of Farming in Brexit UK, Routledge.
• Wheeler R, Morris C, Lobley M, Winter D. (2018) "The good guys are doing it anyway": the accommodation of environmental concern among English and Welsh farmers, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, volume 1, DOI:10.1177/2514848618817487.
• Wheeler RM. (2018) What is it like being a farmer today?.
• Inman A, Winter M, Wheeler R, Vrain E, Lovett A, Collins A, Jones I, Johnes P, Cleasby W. (2018) An exploration of individual, social and material factors influencing water pollution mitigation behaviours within the farming community, Land Use Policy, volume 70, pages 16-26, DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.09.042. [PDF]

2017

• Morris C, Jarrett S, Lobley M, Wheeler RM. (2017) Baseline Farm Survey – Final Report. Report for Defra project LM0302 Sustainable Intensification Research Platform Project 2: Opportunities and Risks for Farming and the Environment at Landscape Scales, Defra.

2016

• Wheeler R. (2016) Local history as productive nostalgia? Change, continuity and sense of place in rural England, Social & Cultural Geography, volume 18, no. 4, pages 466-486, DOI:10.1080/14649365.2016.1189591. [PDF]
• Wheeler R. (2016) Reconciling Windfarms with Rural Place Identity: Exploring Residents’ Attitudes to Existing Sites, Sociologia Ruralis, volume 57, no. 1, pages 110-132, DOI:10.1111/soru.12121. [PDF]
• Chiswell HM, Wheeler R. (2016) ‘As long as you're easy on the eye’: reflecting on issues of positionality and researcher safety during farmer interviews, Area, volume 48, no. 2, pages 229-235, DOI:10.1111/area.12257. [PDF]

2015

• Jarrett S, Morris C, Wheeler RM, Winter M, Collins A. (2015) Literature Review on Farming Collaboration. Report for Defra project LM0302 Sustainable Intensification Research Platform Project 2: Opportunities and Risks for Farming and the Environment at Landscape Scales.

2014

• Wheeler R. (2014) Students and supervisors: debating the nature of doctoral supervision (Panel member), RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, 27th - 29th Aug 2014.
• Wheeler R. (2014) Mining memories in a Cumbrian village: landscape and place identity, RGS-IBG Postgraduate Mid-term Conference, Loughborough, 14th - 15th Apr 2014.
• Wheeler R. (2014) Wind energy and local readings of landscape: conflict or congruent?, RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, 27th - 29th Aug 2014.
• Wheeler R. (2014) Mining memories in a rural community: Landscape, temporality and place identity, Journal of Rural Studies, volume 36, pages 22-32, DOI:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.06.005. [PDF]

2013

• Wheeler R. (2013) The hybrid countryside: a wind energy resource?, Rurality: New Perspectives and Themes, Bamberg, Germany, 14th - 15th Nov 2013.

2012

• Wheeler R. (2012) Winds of change: how are wind farms incorporated into conceptualisations and representations of rural places?, European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS)Summer School, Ristiina, Finland, 19th - 26th Aug 2012.

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Biography

I have a broad background in rural geography and environmental sustainability and completed my PhD, titled 'Experiences of Place and Change in Rural Landscapes: Three English case studies', in May 2015 (Plymouth University). This explored rural residents' experiences of, and attitudes towards, place-based changes - and the implications of these for processes of identity and place attachment - with a particular focus on existing wind farms.

Prior to my postgraduate studies, I worked as Climate SouthWest Project Officer for the Environment Agency, where I was involved in regional efforts to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and encourage adaptation action. I also hold an MSc in Sustainable Environmental Management (Plymouth University) and a BSocSci in Social Anthropology (University of Manchester).

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More information

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Member of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG)

Member of the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS)

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