The Wildland Research Institute is a unique UK-based research group specializing in research and policy development relating to wilderness and wildland. The Institute aims to address the research requirements, strategies and policies for a transition to a greater presence of wild landscapes and natural processes in the UK, Europe and the world.

At the University of Leeds, the Institute will have a dedicated core team of around 20 interdisciplinary researchers and upwards of 100 associates working on the different dimensions of wilderness and wildland. The broad activities of the institute combine social and natural sciences, as well as the arts and literary world, in leading-edge, interdisciplinary research. The Institute has strategic links with national and international bodies including the UK Wildland Network and Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute in the USA.

Current projects include:

A reconnaissance level survey of wildland in Scotland. Contracted research for The John Muir Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage.

International Wildland Research Network. World Universities Network funded project to set up an international multi-disciplinary network of academics and practitioners focusing on mapping, visualising and contextualising wilderness and wildland benefits and services.

NERC funded 12 month proof of concept project on Energyscapes and Ecosystem Services. This research seeks to develop an integrated approach to understanding air, soil and water processes and their interconnections, and to improve our understanding of how alternative fuels will affect a range of environments from urban to wilderness.