Postgraduate research
The Centre for History has a thriving postgraduate community that is the cornerstone of our excellent research environment.
We have great facilities to support you in your research degree. Research students at the Centre benefit from our close relationship with local archives and libraries, including the Highland Archive Centre in Inverness, the Highland Folk Museum and the A. K. Bell Library in Perth. Collections in the region range across local, regional, national and international material; see the interactive map of archives in the Highlands and Islands region.
We also work closely with national collections across Scotland and the UK, including Historic Environment Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland. Research students take full advantage of these connections and you can read more about how our research students do collaborative research with these kinds of cultural and heritage bodies below.
Postgraduate Research Degrees
Postgraduate Research Degrees
Research students have access to a range of facilities at the Centre, including a dedicated study space, computer and library facilities. Centre for History research students play a full role in the life of the department, including our vibrant seminar series and our annual postgraduate training event - you can read more about this and the exciting research being done by our students below.
Centre for History research students can take advantage of a wide range of training opportunities. Following the Centre’s success in REF2014, we are now part of the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities Doctoral Training Partnership. In addition to providing funding for PhD studentships (see the ‘Funding’ section), the SGSAH offers an array of exciting research training courses.
The Centre’s research students also receive support from UHI’s Graduate School and Research Office. All postgraduate research students undergo a programme of induction, organised by the Graduate School. Each year, the Graduate School organises a Postgraduate Conference, which provides students with the opportunity to present their research to a university-wide audience. In addition, the Graduate School also offers a range of workshops and training programmes throughout the year and students have access to funds to support travel to archives and conferences. Read the Graduate School's Code of Practice and Privacy Notice.
In the most recent 2019 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) we scored 85% student satisfaction, placing us fourteenth out of 103 institutions across the UK.
Students can register with the Centre for a research degree programme on a full-time or a part-time basis, for the award of Master of Research (MRes) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
For the PhD, students undertake a research programme leading to the submission of a thesis of a maximum of 100,000 words.
MRes History
For the MRes History, students undertake a research programme leading to the submission of a thesis of a maximum of 40,000 words. The programme is designed for those wishing to do postgraduate research at Masters’ level without undertaking a taught MLitt.
Funding and Fees
Funding and Fees
The Centre for History is a full member of the Scottish Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities Doctoral Training Partnership. Find out more about their PhD studentships, which provide funding to study at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Further information on fees and funding can be found on the University’s Graduate School website.
For further information on postgraduate research degrees at the UHI Centre for History, please contact us by email.
Current Postgraduate Research Students
Current Postgraduate Research Students
| Name | Thesis title |
|---|---|
| Siobhán Beatson |
Life on the Margins: A socio-economic analysis of the sea loch communities of the northwest Highlands in the sixteenth century. |
| Iain Cameron | 'Islands on the Edge of Empire': Assessing the Impact of Imperial Influences in Shaping Perceptions of Identity in Northern Isles Society and Culture, c.1700 - c.1850 |
| Greg Cotton |
Oh my land, My faraway place: The near past, distant homelands and the performance of Irish and Portuguese nationhoods in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 – 2022. |
| Alex Dold | Intertextuality, Historical Fiction, and Public History in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Novel Series' |
| Charlotte Evans | The daily lived experiences of women in 18th Century Britain |
| Mhairi Ferrier |
Home, hearth and heritage – exploring multi-disciplinary approaches in engaging fragile, living heritage. |
| Vicki Jagger | Landed elite evangelical women in the north of Scotland during the first half of the nineteenth century: their networks and identities |
| Frances Liddle | Governance and Diplomacy, the Anglo-Scottish Border, the East and Middle Marches 1489-1560 |
| Jo MacDonald |
The past, present and future of a community-owned estate: building resilient ‘future heritage’ in West Harris |
| John Macdonald | Gallanan Buidhe Fodhairis: Imperial Gaelic Jacobites, 1746–1763 |
| Oisín Ó Ruacháinn | Concepts of Violence in the Early and High Medieval Irish Church |
| Peter Sandford | Protest and resistance studies relating to the anti-tithe campaign in rural North Wales |
| Maureen Shaw | ‘A’ cumail fuachd nam beann dìom – To keep the cold of the mountains from me’: the Textiles of Badenoch in the Eighteenth Century |
Completed Postgraduate Research Students
Completed Postgraduate Research Students
Some of the theses below can be found on the British Library EThOS e-theses online service.
| Name | Thesis topic |
|---|---|
| Darroch Bratt | The Origins and History of Whisky Distilling in the Scottish Highlands and Islands: An Historical and Archaeological Approach |
| Bob Chambers | For want of land: a study of land settlement in the Outer Hebrides, Sky and Rassay between the two World Wars |
| Wade Cormack | Sport and Physical Education in the Northern Mainland Burghs of Scotland, c 1600-1800 |
| Cathel Hutchison | Tartan entrepreneurs in nineteenth-century Canada: the importance of a Highland origin in determining their success (MLitt by Research) |
| Liz Forrest | ‘Shepherds Wanted’: Wester Ross Emigrants to Patagonia, 1880-1930 |
| Julian Grant | Inhabited perspectives on the North Coast 500: Re-making local heritage in touristed communities of the Scottish Highlands |
| Melanie Manwaring-McKay | Charles Fraser Mackintosh (1828-1901) and his books: book collecting, bibliomania and antiquarianism in the Victorian Scottish Highlands (MRes) |
| Joanna Rodgers | One Island’s Harvest: Heritage, Diaspora & Ancestral Tourism to Tiree |
| Linda Ross | Nuclear fission and social fusion: the impact of Dounreay Experimental Research Establishment on Caithness, 1954-1966 |
| Aila Schäfer | Landscape's Constitutive Role in Transforming the Highlander in the Ossianic Collections: James Macpherson's Highland Tours 1760-1761 |
| Mary Souter | Public Health in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland: a Study of Inverness County, 1845-1912 |
| David Taylor | A society in transition: Badenoch 1750-1800 |
| Jane Thomas | Salmon in Early Modern Scotland |
| Darren Tierney | Financing the faith: Scottish Catholicism 1772-c.1890 |
| Stephen Worth | ‘Sustainability upon the margins: The fate of small farms on the Grampian Mountains during the Agricultural Improvements of the 18th and 19th Centuries’. |