CHE has been awarded a research grant of £34,000 over two years by the prestigious Swiss based organisation, the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The grant will provide scholarships for a number of MSc students looking at whether or not community development has a spiritual basis.

WWF’s links with CHE evolved out of work that the international conservation body undertook with CHE Fellow Alastair McIntosh in stopping the “superquarry” that had been proposed for the National Scenic Area in South Harris.

CHE subsequently interested them in research that defines spirituality simply as “that which gives life.”

For WWF this follows in the footsteps of their famous declaration on Religion and Nature made by leaders of five major faiths at Assisi in 1986. They see CHE’s research as shedding light on approaches to community building that go beyond economic considerations.

Six MSc students have been awarded WWF/CHE research scholarships this year. Themes include the role of spirituality in land reform in the Hebrides, in addressing drug addiction in Glasgow, and as a hidden dimension of local food production in Fife.

Said Alastair McIntosh, “It’s about an understanding of community that integrates people, place and spirit. Spirituality helps to hold it all together.”