The OICSD convened a small a small, and varied group of academics met for the first of a series of day-long workshops, held on the Blenheim Palace Estate. The purpose was to initiate the development of a theoretical framework to reconcile the broad impacts of different land management choices.

This framework aimed to draw in diverse land management goals, and the interactions between them, to guide policy makers on how land parcels should be used. The group worked to find an objective method to guide land management decisions, before contextualising this using the Blenheim Palace Estate, taking political-economy and societal norms into account.

Participants included Tom Curtis, a sustainable land management consultant; Dr Lisa Norton, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Dr Laurence Smith, Organic Research Centre; Dr Patrick Clibbens, historian, Prof Philip Kreager, anthropologist; George Geddes, archaeologist. Roy Cox – Rural Enterprises Manager to the Estate, also presented to the group.

Further reading?

Somerville JRF Sheds Light on the Cellular Origins of Sleep

Learn More
15 October 2025
Somerville JRF Sheds Light on the Cellular Origins of Sleep

Marking 100 years since the birth of Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)

Learn More
13 October 2025
Marking 100 years since the birth of Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)

Meet Francesca Arduini, Somerville’s New Tutorial Fellow in Economics

Learn More
10 October 2025
Meet Francesca Arduini, Somerville’s New Tutorial Fellow in Economics