Mark Shucksmith OBE is Professor of Planning at Newcastle University and Visiting Professor at Ruralis, Trondheim. Mark’s main areas of research include social exclusion in rural areas, rural housing and rural development. Recent books include: Rural Poverty Today: Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain (2023); Hope under Neoliberal Austerity: responses from civil society and civic universities (2021); 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 120 papers in learned journals and advised governments in several countries.
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 (2005-06), and Chair of the Scottish Government’s Committee of Inquiry into Crofting (2007-08). He was Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Rural Economy 2018/19 and to its Select Committee on the NERC Act 2017/18. Mark was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to rural development and to crofting.
