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The European Society for Rural Sociology warmly welcomes you to North East Scotland. Aberdeen city and shire offer an fascinating location for social research on rural and natural resource-based issues. Historically, the economy of the region was based on productive farm land and abundant sea fishing resources. The arrival of the North Sea oil industry in the 1970s led to rapid urbanisation and the establishment of Aberdeen city as the ‘oil capital of Europe’. Today, Aberdeen’s economy remains heavily dominated by the oil industry presence, and Aberdeenshire has developed the reputation for progressive farming, vibrant rural communities and a strong tourist sector, featuring coastal and mountain amenities, dolphin and whale watching, and thriving whiskey distilleries and microbreweries.

The XXVI Congress of the European Society of Rural Sociology (ESRS) welcomes papers which address these questions of how individuals, communities and land-based businesses across Europe negotiate change in the context of neoliberalism and how rural areas become places of possibility and potentiality for everyone