Islands Researcher

Gow’s Typology of Scotland’s Islands

When I started my research I wanted to find a way to ensure that it reflected the diversity of Scotland’s islands in a way that allowed the voices of smaller islands in particular to included, while protecting the identities of participants. I wasn’t really satisfied with any of the existing categorisations of islands used for policy and research purposes as these tended to use mainland- or urban-centric models. So I set about developing my own classification system.

After spending time assessing the things which illustrate the similarities and differences between islands, and presenting my ideas to islanders and policy makers, I identified seven types of inhabited islands in Scotland which are not connected to mainland Scotland via fixed link. And so Gow’s Typology of Scotland’s Islands was born!

There has been a great deal of interest in the typology and, in late 2023, I was invited to undertake an internship with the Scottish Government to develop this for official use. The expanded Scottish Islands Typology (2024) was published in February 2024 and includes the 89 inhabited islands covered the Islands (Scotland) Act, as well as 72 previously inhabited islands. It is intended that the typology can be used as just one of may tools to help anyone working in, with, or for islands better understand the diversity of our islands. You can find out more about my work developing the typology in my ‘Categorising Scotland’s Islands’ blog post.