Researchers in the School of GeoSciences and the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh, together with local communities, have been working as a collaborative project team on a pilot study in the Highlands of Scotland. The project titled, Building Sustainability on a Foundation of Care, brings research and music together to explore how care shapes our relationships with the natural world. Working with communities in Badenoch and Strathspey, the team have been examining how everyday acts of care - for people, places and places - can help communities respond to the climate and nature crises. The research explores how social and ecological wellbeing are deeply connected, and how practices of care can inform more sustainable and equitable environmental decision-making. At the heart of this work is a focus on socioecological care, an approach that centres on relationships and interdependence rather than technical or economic measures. It considers care as both an ethic and a practice, encompassing values such as respect, reciprocity and responsibility. By understanding how people express care for one another and for their environments, the project aims to support forms of repair that are socially just and ecologically grounded. Research grounded in community The project team, guided by community-based participatory research, worked across three sites in Badenoch and Strathspey, each reflecting different areas of care in practice:Carrbridge Community Orchard, where local volunteers have transformed a derelict site into a flourishing shared green space that sustains both community and biodiversity.Lynbreck Croft, a regenerative farm run by owner-occupiers Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer, whose approach to farming demonstrates how care for land and animals can align with care for people and place.Wildland Ltd., a landscape-scale restoration project in the Cairngorms National Park, through which researchers explore how large-scale land management intersect with community wellbeing and local networks of care. Through workshops, fieldwork, interviews and creative reflection, the researchers and community partners co-produced shared insights of what care looks like across these varied landscapes and livelihoods. Photos taken during fieldwork to each of the three sites in Badenoch and Strathspey. Of the Land: turning research into music Building on a long Highland tradition of music that tells stories of place, relationships, conflict and care one of the outputs of the work is a new piece of musical work - Of the Land - composed by Highland musician Mhairi Hall, who translated the research insights into music. Drawing inspiration from the people, places and communities of Badenoch and Strathspey, Hall’s compositions explore how local communities respond to climate and nature crises. Of the Land offers a powerful musical reflection on the care that underpins efforts to repair both social and natural environments. Hall worked with the research team from the outset, drawing on site visits, project workshops, conversations and the findings of the study to create a suite of music that “speaks back” to the communities of the Cairngorms. Each piece carries the audio footprint of its site, offering a responsive, dialogical reflection of care, place and belonging which invites listeners to feel, reflect, and connect. First Performance in Plockton Photo of students from Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd taken during the first music session. Alongside Mhairi Hall, Of the Land was first performed in November by young musicians from Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd (the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, Plockton) and Fèis Spè, which brings traditional music to children in Badenoch and Strathspey. Young musicians from Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd and Fèis Spè performing Of the Land at Plockton High School. Upcoming Glasgow concert The second performance will take place on 17 January 2026, when the musicians from Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd take to the stage at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.Find out more and book ticketsThe concert is grouped around the project’s three case studies, with each piece engaging directly with the findings of that site:Respair | Re-gen: Inspired by Wildland Ltd., the music engages with the transformations brought about by landscape restoration and the emergence of new, and sometimes shifting, networks of care.Sunrise at Lynbreck | Osmosis | For the Hens: Reflecting life at Lynbreck Croft, the pieces explore the emotions of care, connecting humans, land and non-human lives.Treetopia | The Arc | Of the Land: Inspired by Carrbridge Community Orchard, the music captures the creativity and hope that sustains community care, weaving in the voices of volunteers, local schoolchildren and the land itself.The performance concludes with Ronnie’s, a celebration of Ronnie, the matriarch Highland Cow at Lynbreck Croft, who died in 2025 and was an integral part of the Croft community.By combining research and creative practice, Of the Land highlights the power of storytelling through both words and music, reminding us that care in all its forms is essential to living well with each other and with the land. ____Of the Land is part of The BuSC project, a University of Edinburgh research project funded by the ESRC’s ACCESS Network and The Cairngorms National Park through the Cairngorms 2030 programme. It has been made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. With thanks also to the research participants: the Carrbridge Community Orchard, Lynbreck Croft, Wildland Ltd and their wider community who live and work in Badenoch and Strathspey. Related links RCS Traditional Music Showcase and Mhairi Hall: Of The Land | Find out more about the concert in Glasgow and book tickets Building Sustainability on a Foundation of Care | A Pilot Study in the Highlands of Scotland – project website Carrbridge Community Orchard Website Lynbreckcroft Website Wildland.scot Website All image credits: Building Sustainability on a Foundation of Care Project Team Publication date 27 Nov, 2025
