Biography

Dr Robin McLaren is director of Know Edge Ltd, a UK-based, independent management consulting company formed in 1986. The company supports organisations to innovate and generate business benefits from their geospatial information. Robin has supported national governments in formulating national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) strategies. He led the formulation of the UK Location Strategy and has supported similar initiatives in Kenya, Hungary, Iraq, Western Australia, Kuwait and Canada. He has also supported the implementation of the EU INSPIRE Directive in the UK and was a founding member of the UK Location Council. Robin is recognised as an expert in land information management and has worked extensively with the United Nations, World Bank and EU on land policy/land reform programmes to strengthen security of tenure and support economic reforms in Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. He has co-authored the FIG/World Bank publication on fit-for-purpose land administration and the more detailed Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration Guiding Principles for the Global Land Tool Network, providing legal, spatial and institutional guidance aimed at developing countries. His recent research explores the innovative use of crowdsourcing to support citizens in directly capturing their land rights. His current interests are focused on integrated land management strategies and how to convince decision-makers to adopt fit-for-purpose land administration approaches.