University of the West of Scotland researchers seek stories of migration from across Ross-shire
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Researchers are looking for participants for a new study on Ross-shire communities in a bid to highlight the positive aspects of migration in the area.
The Rural Living Project, led by University of the West of Scotland researchers Emilia Pietka-Nykaza and Helen Baillot, will focus on the personal experiences of people living in the area around Dingwall who were born there or were born in another EU country and have decided to settle down in that community.
Mrs Baillot said: “Emilia and I worked for several years doing research mostly with refugees but also other migrants, including the Polish community, but most of that research has been done down in the central belt so we were really keen on starting a project that would give voice to those living outside urban centres.
“What we are looking into essentially is to speak to a number of locals born in the Highlands who still live here and people who were born outside the UK, who are EU nationals but have chosen to make the Highlands their home. So, we are looking for people who have decided to stay in the longer term.”
The project aims to inform and support the development of services and strategies that benefit residents of the Highlands.
“I guess one of the main things we are interested in is the reasons why people chose to come and stay here, for those outside the UK, and also what brings locals to stay and live in an increasingly diverse community,” Mrs Baillot said.
“Our angle is probably that every migrant living in the Highlands or elsewhere in Scotland is living within what is essentially a UK-wide hostile environment.
“If our research can demonstrate the positives of migration and the ways that communities can come together hopefully I think that it would be useful.
“I think it’s very important that we do this work now because, although we have a very supportive integration strategy in Scotland that makes new Scots welcome, this is not the case in the rest of the UK.
“It’s important that we try to gather as many experiences as we can to make sure things improve for everyone.”
The choice of Dingwall as a main focus for the research is mainly due to the variety of ways of living in the area.
“There is a real diversity of ways of living in a community like Dingwall, where you have people living in the town centre and in more rural areas,” Mrs Baillot said.
“We have also got interesting historical context in terms of people migrating from Scotland to other countries and people being cleared from their land, which is very interesting from a research point of view.
“I think what stands out is also the mixture of beautiful natural landscapes up here and the fact that communities are quite small and everyone knows each other, which is very different to living in a city.
“We are really interested in speaking to people living in and around Dingwall about their experiences of living, meeting others and settling here.”
The team speak French and Polish, with the possibility to arrange interpreters in other languages.
For more information or to get involved, you can email Rural.living.project@gmail.com
