Robin Noble (Skrines, 1964-68), has been appointed an Honorary Research Fellow of Stirling University, attached to the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy. This will enable him to develop his ongoing work on the environment of the Highlands and Islands. Although he has retired from in-person teaching, he maintains a regular presence on Linkedin, and has to date published four books on the Highlands and Islands. His website is robinnoble.net.

Taken from his website:

I have lived close to the land all my life, as an organic gardener, former crofter and hill-walker. As an artist, photographer and writer, I have studied and recorded the landscapes around me. I learned and taught simple geology, geomorphology, natural history, archaeology and history. I have worked in three Field Centres in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and for three Universities: Aberdeen, Glasgow Caledonian and Stirling, teaching Environmental History.

I made a detailed study of native woods in the far Northwest of the Highlands and Islands; here I lived for much of my life in beautiful and contrasting locations - Assynt, Orkney, Skye and Strath Glass.

I then spent ten years where the spectacular Pyrenees run into the fabled Mediterranean; here we swam in a Marine Reserve and over the decade observed a remarkable increase in fish numbers. In the great mountains we saw the effects of declining transhumance on beautiful wildflower meadows, and noted the damage being done by growing numbers of wild boar.

Now in very varied landscapes along the South Coast of England, I am learning a new and special botany. The human pressure is considerable, but nearby Knepp leads the way towards evolving new and biodiverse, wilder places.