As part of our effort to help members get to know the people behind the Landscape Research Group, we are spotlighting members of our Board of Trustees – putting faces and backgrounds to the names you might recognise from our communications and events.

In this article, we hear from Professor Ian Mell, Head of the Department of Planning, Property and Environmental Management at the University of Manchester, a long-standing LRG Trustee and former Treasurer. With a background in Green Infrastructure planning and broad experience in academia, government and practice throughout Europe, Ian has been central to LRG’s work supporting inclusive and innovative approaches to landscape. From supporting early-career researchers through the Research Fund to fostering international dialogue, Ian brings both insight and energy to LRG’s mission.

Click the questions below to discover what first drew Ian to the organisation, what drives his work and what excites him most about the future of landscape research.

Three things motivated me to become involved with the LRG. Firstly, my PhD supervisor, Prof. Maggie Roe (a former trustee), introduced me to the LRG and recommended that I get involved, as she felt that my research would be a good fit. My PhD in Green Infrastructure planning engaged with a wide range of ideas about urban nature, planning for people and place, and the policies that underpin sustainable places. These ideas are core to the LRG remit of engaging with new ideas and practices, and I felt that the LRG was a welcoming place where early career academics could share their work and gain valuable feedback from peers.

Secondly, the LRG research fund was an option to kick-start a project I had been working on, looking at community understandings of green spaces in Belfast (Northern Ireland). This provided funding to engage with stakeholders in Belfast over a period of a year to develop working relationships and to support the development of a larger funding bid. Since joining as a trustee, I have been part of the allocation of research funding, and it is a treat to see so many interesting ideas being developed. The LRG, and the support offered by the research fund, therefore provide amazing opportunities for people to develop new ideas within a supportive environment (and away from the constraints of applying to research councils).

The third area was the link between the LRG and the Landscape Research journal. Getting to know the ins and outs of publishing from an LRG perspective was really eye-opening and an opportunity for me as an early career researcher to learn the roles. As an academic, gaining experience of the editorial process and the ways in which the LRG engages with the publishing house has been really insightful.

I think the main achievements of the LRG (and my small place within it) is the ongoing support for novel landscape research. We have aimed to engage with complex issues via our events and supported a range of academic and practitioner based projects that have enabled researchers to develop some really interesting outputs. The ongoing commitment to supporting research is something that I think the LRG should be very proud of, as it allows our members to showcase work and ensures that we are giving back to the community. 

I think our ethos of supporting innovation and novelty in terms of landscape research, and the discussions this facilitates around the conceptual, political, and lived experience of landscape, will continue to be a driving force behind the LRG. We have a proud history of progressive thinking, and I feel that as more people engage with the LRG, there will be opportunities to explore new ideas in more diverse locations. The LRG’s growing reach internationally is also something we should be proud of and continue to expand. Landscape research in Latin American, African and Middle Eastern locations, the Asia-Pacific and East/South-East Asia is blossoming and the LRG has a role to play in supporting that via our networks, events, and research funds. This is a really interesting time to be working in landscape and the LRG is well placed to support a range of projects and discussions that challenge perceived orthodoxies and question how and why the “landscape” is planned for, researched, and understood in different ways.

I’m excited about what comes next. There is a new wave of academics and practitioners pushing the boundaries of landscape research, politically, financially, socio-culturally and environmentally, and I’m excited to see what they come up with. I’m also looking forward to greater international debate within the LRG, drawing on voices from across the world to shape how we discuss landscape academically, but also as a lived experience. We are seeing people reconceptualise what the landscape is, who it’s for and what it means in different contexts – these ideas are travelling and promoting a dialogue of change. How we understand “landscape” is therefore being reshaped and that’s exciting.

Prof. Ian Mell, AMLI

LRG Trustee

Head of Department, Planning, Property & Environmental Management 

Professor in Environmental & Landscape Planning, University of Manchester 

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Enjoyed this Trustee Q&A?

LRG membership gives you the chance to shape the organisation behind it. As a member, you can vote in Board of Trustees elections and even stand for election yourself.

You will also gain access to our peer-reviewed journal Landscape Review and five other publications, be eligible to apply for the LRG Research Fund, take part in Critical Field Studies and share your work and ideas within a truly global community - along with several other valuable benefits


If you are not yet a member, now is the perfect time to join and get involved.