Teaching and Academic

Academic and Research Posts

Currently, I am an Affiliate Lecturer with the Department of Classics and Tutor with Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Glasgow. I offer teaching on the core courses ‘Approaching the Ancient World through Text’ and ‘Approaching the Ancient World Through Material Culture’ on the Ancient Cultures MSc in the Department of Classics and I lead the online courses ‘Introducing Celtic Inscriptions‘, ‘Celtic Art and Architecture‘, and ‘Peoples of Ancient and Early Medieval Scotland‘ in Adult and Continuing Education.

In 2020 I contributed to teaching Celtic Civilisation (‘Early and Medieval History of the Celts’ and ‘Celtic Mythology, Religion & Folklore’) with the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at NUI Galway.

Between 2013 to 2017 I was a part-time teaching associate in the School of English at the University of Nottingham, and taught on several language and literature modules. In 2015 I was awarded a Staff Oscar by the University of Nottingham Students’ Union for Most Inspiring Teacher.

I have also held research positions on a number of exciting projects, including:

2019–21       Research Fellow, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. Understanding the Gough Map: an Application of Physics, Chemistry and History (Leverhulme Trust).

2016–18       Research Fellow, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, University of Wales. Flood and Flow: Place-Names and the Changing Hydrology of River Systems project (Leverhulme Trust).

2015             Research Fellow, Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham. The Place-Names of Suffolk Project (Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History).

2012–13       Research Assistant, Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham. The Digital Exposure of English Place-Names project (Joint Information Systems Committee).

Membership of Professional Bodies

• Vice President, Pictish Arts Society
• Fellow, Royal Society of the Arts
• Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
• Member, Scottish Society for Northern Studies
• Member, The Scottish Medievalists
• Member, Runes, Monuments and Memorial Carvings International Research Network
• Honorary Research Associate, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge

Selection of Papers and Presentations

‘Finding and Interpreting the Lost and Forgotten Early Inscribed Stones of Pictland’. Common Ground: A Conference in Honour of Anna Ritchie, 5-6 March 2022.

‘The Newton Stones, the Pictish Symbol System and Writing in Pictland ‘. ASNC Graduate Seminar. Cambridge, 1 November 2021.

‘The Gods and Myths of the Picts’. Save Ancient Studies Alliance Master Class, 29 October 2021.

‘Pictish Myth and Religion’. Pictish Arts Society Annual Conference, 3rd October 2021. The paper is available to view here, and the film on media.

‘The Pictish Gods’. Picts in the North: the Conan Stone in Context (originally The Return of the Conan Stone to Dingwall Museum), a virtual conference 13 March 2021. See Media.

‘Manuscripts and Writing in Pictland: New Thoughts on the Newton Stone Inscriptions’. Pictish Arts Society Public Lecture. Brechin Museum, 17^th May 2019.

‘The Place-names of Llyfr Aneirin and the Cult of St Kentigern’. Scottish Place-Name Society Conference. Perth Museum, 5 May 2018.

‘The Hackness Cross: the Power of Script and Image, Female Literacy and International Aspirations in an Anglo-Saxon Community’. Eighth International Insular Arts Conference. University of Glasgow, 13 July 2017.

‘The Place-names of a Royal Anglo-Saxon Landscape: a Toponymic Survey of Rendlesham and the Deben Valley’. Anglo-Saxon Rendlesham Day Conference. The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, 24 September 2016.

‘Place-Names, Landscapes and Church Dedications of Suffolk’. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History: Wheeler Conference and Book Launch. Columbine Hall, Stowupland, 23 April 2016.

‘The Representation of “the Book” in Early Medieval Insular Sculpture’. Pictish Arts Society Public Lecture. Brechin Museum, 15 April 2016.

‘The Place-Names and Landscapes in the Vita Sancti Guthlaci’. Guthlac of Crowland: Celebrating 1300 Years. University of London, School of Advanced Studies, 10 April 2014.

‘Hebridean Place-Names and Monastic Identity in the Vita Sancti Columbae’. Scottish Place-Name Society Conference. University of Aberdeen, 4 May 2013.

‘Latin, Runes and Pseudo-Ogham: The Enigma of the Hackness Stone’. International Research Network Runes, Monuments and Memorial Carvings Second Workshop. Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 8 April 2013.

‘Place, Identity and Social Memory in Early Welsh Poetry: A Comparative Study of Place-Name Reception in Y Gododdin and the Poems of Taliesin’. International Medieval Congress. University of Leeds, July 2012.

‘A Case-Study of Nemeton Place-Names/Une Étude de Cas de l’Étymologie des noms de lieux Nemeton’. Société Belge d’Etudes Celtiques. Institute des Hautes Etudes de Belgique,Brussels. May 2011.

‘Cemeteries, Pre-Christian Festivals and Place-Names: Perceptions from Senchas na Relec, Aided Nath Í ocus a Adnacol and Related Dindshenchas Tracts’. Oxford Cambridge Celtic Colloquium. St John’s College, Cambridge. May 2010.

‘Place-Names in a Hagiographical Tradition of St Brigit of Kildare: Analysis of Vita Prima and Bethu Brigte’. Second International Conference on Early Medieval Irish and Scottish Toponymy. Queens University Belfast. November 2009.

‘Island Place-Names in Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae’. Annual Conference of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. Falmouth. April 2009.