Glasgow School of Art – a partner to the economy

GSA Rural Lab is positioned as a key player in Scotland’s rural economic strategy, aligning with national initiatives such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s (HIE) 2023-2028 Strategy and looks to help address the unique challenges faced by rural areas in Scotland from workforce shortages and digital connectivity gaps to an ageing population and limited service access.

Through cross-disciplinary collaboration, GSA Rural Lab champions new approaches to rural enterprise, sustainable economies, and place-driven research, innovation and partnership. It encourages new ways of thinking about the potential for sustainable growth in rural spaces, embraces and emphasises the importance of rural traditions, craft and making in future-focused sectors and emerging specialisms such as space, bioscience and AI.

In 2025 Rural Lab secured major funding through an AHRC Doctoral Focus Award.  ‘A Golden Thread: Crafting the Creative Economy from Scotland’s Highlands, Lowlands & Islands’, aims to strengthen Scotland’s craft sector and generate wider economic and social impacts through supporting interdisciplinary study at the intersection of craft and future-focused industries such as space, biomaterials, and regenerative design.  The funding will enable the GSA, in collaboration with the Open University and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), to create a distributed training college of twenty doctoral researchers, recruited from across Scotland’s rural and island communities.

Further significant funding through the AHRC Doctoral Focal Award was also secured in partnership with Bangor University.  The Celtic Crescent Creative Economy is a consortium including Aberystwyth University, Falmouth University, the University of Aberdeen, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the University of South Wales and 27 industry and sectoral partners, including MG Alba, The Harris Tweed Authority, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, and Historic Environment Scotland.