Northumbria University
Gary is a Professor of Rural Entrepreneurship at Northumbria University. Previously, he completed his PhD at Newcastle University’s Centre for Rural Economy and worked for 12 years at the University of Lincoln.
Over 20 years researching rural businesses Gary has studied village pubs, microbreweries and coworking spaces as well as broader patterns of rural economic development. His work has identified complex links between changing rural populations and the businesses opportunities that now exist in the countryside. Most recently, he has identified that remote working is enabling a more diverse mix of creative and knowledge-intensive work to take place in rural communities. The challenge now is for other local businesses – like pubs – to tap into the spending power of these workers to benefit the wider rural economy.