Across landscapes, into knowledge and with togetherness
Written by Max Besana
March 2026
In this blog post, Max reflects on the unique power of meeting in person during the CKM Gathering 2025, held on 11 November in Inverness. Having planned and supported the event's logistics, Max shares her perspective on the organising process and how it provided an opportunity to meet, listen to, and support the many expressions of rurality and community across Scotland.
Last year was my first Community Knowledge Matters (CKM) Gathering. The CKM network meets monthly, and throughout this year, while working for Science Ceilidh, I got to meet several members of the network, both online and in person, through other projects. But the power of an in-person meeting shone on the 11th of November.
The first to arrive came from Shetland, and while the volunteers were putting the last things in place, warm coffee, cookies, and fresh fruit, Sophie was arranging her master’s dissertation. The sounds and images made sure everyone could join, whether in person or those logging in online. The sun shines through the long, wonderfully renovated windows. The room was filled with chatter, people moving between the tables, handshakes, hugs, and smiles everywhere.
As the day progressed, I was running around making sure the background flowed through the rooms, which were filled with bright ideas, honest experience-sharing, and creative solutions to local problems that were both invigorating and inspiring. Seeing communities from all corners of Scotland working together was worth the hard work and hecticness of organising the event.
It wasn’t until the next day that I got to fully participate in one of the workshops and experience firsthand the range and depth of what a network of rural community researchers brings to the table. It is here and there, when policymakers, government institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and Highlanders meet.
In a well-kept room at Inverness Townhouse, Research Data Scotland hosted the workshop Shaping Scotland's future using data for research to benefit the public. Katie and Rachel presented the latest developments in the secure environment they have developed to ensure that public sector data — and especially unconsented data — that researchers can apply for to use remains unidentifiable. However, the big question that moved the participants was “who is benefited by this” and the idea of public good and public interest was brainstormed.
One by one we, the participants, brought forward our personal concepts of “public good” and shortly discussed their use in the UK’s public sector, institutions, and the repercussions they have in areas like the Highlands and Islands. However, the meeting needed to come to an end, and the questions remained open: Does this enable people to live decent lives?
What are the ethics of data — especially if it’s collected from public bodies without explicit consent? How can we be sure and build trust that any unconsented data is properly anonymised? How can the people living in remote, rural areas be protected and yet also represented within this type of research environment? Do any potential benefits to society using this data as a whole justify this?
Now the seed has taken root, and I find myself digging down the rabbit hole in a Foucauldian archaeological investigation into the notions of “Public Good” within the UK system, and why and how they are tied to institutional settings and philosophical traditions.
“While the organising and planning of the CKM Gathering have come to an end, this is one of many repercussions, influence, and creative sparks that were ignited in the 2025 event are still to be explored and flourish.”
This last year working for Science Ceilidh, in the CKM gathering and other projects, was an opportunity to meet, listen and support the many expressions of rurality and community in Scotland.
Since before I moved to the Highlands I have explored the vastness of the moorlands, the isolated mountains and remote islands by foot (you can read some of my adventures in my personal blog: Aeon of Love). This year I saw how these rich variations in geology and geography mirrors the diverse lived experience of the Highlanders. Yet, while the gathering was taking place, the feeling was of like-mindedness, the openness to share creative solutions to similar problems and willingness to find the red thread that keeps us together, up here.
I am grateful to all those who kindly and openheartedly shared their honest perspectives and experiences, those whose curiosity and compromise with the place they inhabit, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, compel them to take action, participate and advocate for the wellbeing of those around them. As an adopted Highlander, I felt contained, inspired and seen. I hope others felt the same and took back to their corner of this land something from the Gathering to help build a better community.
