Dr Ruth Lightbody
Senior Lecturer in Politics, International Lead for Social Sciences
Department of Social Sciences
Ruth Lightbody is a Senior Lecturer in politics in the Department of Social Sciences. Ruth joined GCU in 2014 after completing her MSc in Political Research from the University of Strathclyde. She was awarded her PhD from the University of the West of Scotland in 2016 which looked at the role of public hearings in institutionalising deliberative democracy to promote environmental policy making. Ruth’s teaching focuses on political and democratic theory. She is the module leader for a level 2 module: Politics 2: Concepts, Themes and Responses and an Honours level module: Democratic Challenges.
Ruth’s principle research interests are deliberative democracy and public participation, and how they can be used to implement policy changes which tackle social inequalities and environmental issues. Ruth has established a reputation as a renowned expert in the area of deliberative democracy, providing guidance to the Scottish Government, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, What Works Scotland and other third sector organisations, policy actors and organisers of democratic innovations. Ruth developed a public participation strategy for exiting the Covid-19 lockdown in Scotland on behalf of the Open Government. She has served as a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Post-Covid-19 Futures Commission on Public Debate and Participation and of the Scottish Government Working Group on Community Engagement for Transforming Planning in Practice.