Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) Launch Event

Building on the ongoing research by staff and students at the University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies, Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) will be launched with an event at the Brahan Lecture Theatre, UHI Perth.

Building on the ongoing research by staff and students at the University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies, Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) will be launched with an event at the Brahan Lecture Theatre, UHI Perth. The series of seminars will take place on Monday, December 16, 2024, from 11 AM to 4 PM.

Professor Alex Sanmark, UHI Institute for Northern Studies, states, “ Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) has been a growing area of study and research at the University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies. VEMS pulls together the growing number of staff and postgraduate researchers presently studying in this area into one identifiable unit. We believe the creation of VEMS will help us highlight the world-class research being undertaken by our growing number of postgraduate students. “

The programme itself will feature international speakers who will introduce the idea of a focus on Viking and Early Medieval Studies and highlight the research currently being conducted across the campuses of UHI Perth, UHI Orkney, and UHI Shetland.

Programme

11.00  Opening and VEMS launch: Margaret Cook, Principal UHI Perth, Alex Sanmark INS 
11.15  David Griffiths (University of Oxford) – Life in a longhouse 
11.45  Christian Cooijmans (University of Oslo) - On Home Ground: The Viking Encampment between Liminal Space and Social Place
12.15  Caroline Paterson – A likely female furnished burial from Norby, Shetland
12.45  Mark Hall (Perth Museum, Culture Perth & Kinross) - Vikings-on-the-Tay: On some red and other herring

1.15-2.00 Lunch

2.00  Victoria Thompson Whitworth - The monumental reinvention of the kingdom of Strathclyde
2.30  Shane McLeod (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – The Norse sentinel system of Orkney 
3.00  Oisin Plumb (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – The Orcades and Northern Britain in the Anglo-Saxon Mappa Mundi
3.30  Alexandra Sanmark (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – Execution sites in medieval Sweden 
4.00  Closing remarks

The staff welcomes anyone who wishes to attend. For those who cannot travel to UHI Perth, Scotland, the event will also be live-streamed.

If you would like to attend in person or online, please reach out to shane.mcleod@uhi.ac.uk.