Dr Iain Cairns

Lecturer

Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation

Personal statement

Iain is the Head of Reseach and Impact at the Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities and Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde’s Business School, in the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation. His research is primarily focused on democratic businesses (e.g. cooperative and community enterprises) and the financial arrangements to support their establishment and development.

Iain has a PhD in Management from Glasgow Caledonian University, which focused on community organisations and how they might own and manage assets to drive community development. Prior to PhD study, during his MRes in Human Geography at the University of Glasgow, Iain focused on financial geography and conducted research into the potential of alternative currencies to advance community organisations.

Iain has also published work on investment, banking and industrial strategy with the Common Weal think tank. His work on a Scottish National Investment Bank has been particularly impactful. His 2013 position paper on a Scottish National Investment Bank has been recognised by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) as the first major work on the subject. Subsequently, Iain worked in partnership with Common Weal, Friends of the Earth and NEF to develop the idea, a campaign which culminated in the adoption of the SNIB policy by the Scottish Government.

More recently, Iain has worked on a number of United Kingdom Energy Research Council (UKERC) projects. The ‘Financing Community Energy: lessons learned and innovations for the future’ project, was undertaken jointly by the University of Manchester, University of Strathclyde and Imperial College London. In this project Iain led the data collection and analysis of community energy case studies. He also worked on the 'Whole Person Whole Place Energy Solutions’ project with colleagues from the universities of Sussex and Leeds. This project produced a better understanding of how social relationships of community and place shape the prospects for energy efficiency retrofit.

Publications

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Publications

A Review of Foundation Scotland’s Approach to Community Benefit Funds : Executive Summary: Gowens Rebecca, Hannon Matthew, Roberts Jennifer J, Cairns Iain, Major Laura; (2025); https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00094774
A Review of Foundation Scotland’s Approach to Community Benefit Funds: Gowens Rebecca, Hannon Matthew, Roberts Jennifer J, Cairns Iain, Major Laura; (2025); https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00094730
Bridging disconnections : narratives of collective social entrepreneurs on the energy poverty network: Manjon Maria-Jose, Merino Amparo, Cairns Iain; Journal of Social Entrepreneurship Vol 16, pp. 1373-1397 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2023.2297667
Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities' response to the Scottish Government's consultation on 'Community Benefits and Shared Ownership for Low Carbon Energy Infrastructure: Hannon M, Cairns I, Roberts J; (2025)
Guiding Principles and Actions for Enhancing Community Benefits from Community Benefit Funds: Hannon Matthew, Gowens Rebecca, Searle Rachel, Roberts Jennifer J, Cairns Iain, Major Laura; (2025); https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00092494
Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities' response to the Scottish Government's consultation on 'Community Benefits from Net Zero Energy Developments': Hannon M, Cairns I, Roberts J, Gowens R, Major L; (2025)

More publications

Teaching

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Teaching

Iain holds a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.

Iain brings interdisciplinary knowledge and an interdisciplinary approach to his teaching work. He has degrees in politics and history, human geography and management and he has taught English, modern studies, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology and social entrepreneurship.

At the Hunter centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation Iain teaches a range of subjects focused on new venture creation, strategy and growth. His classes emphasise the collective processes behind entrepreneurship, the importance of the value created by enterprise being captured for the benefit of society and the importance of firms acting with environmental sustainability goals at their core.

Research

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