UHIHistory.bsky.social

Book cover of Harvie’s Dyke: The People, Their Liberty and the Clyde by Christopher A. Whatley. The cover features sketch-like illustrations of people in historical attire holding tools or weapons, set against a parchment-style background.

Don't forget to join us on Tuesday 9 December 7-8.30pm for our next History Talks Live seminar event.

This is a free, online-only event. For further details and to join the event, visit bit.ly/3K4hXNX

@thinkuhi.bsky.social

Don't forget our next Humanities Open Evening is tomorrow Thu, 27 Nov, 6.30-8pm!

Here's what one of recent graduates said about UHI History: "I really enjoyed my experience on the BA History & Criminology course...the support from all the UHI staff was amazing."

See below for details & booking ⬇️

A male angel depicted in the nude, holding a spear and standing amidst clouds

Read about our Dr Philippa Woodcock's research trip to Drum Castle for her project '"They wept together": Investigating miscarriage, taboo & support in early modern Scotland'.

Visit our website for the full piece, bit.ly/4p0DaaI

@thinkuhi.bsky.social

📷:Hugh Irvine, The Archangel Gabriel (NTS)

Mhairi’s PhD is a multidisciplinary approach to researching taighean-tughaidh (thatched houses) in Uist, Western Isles. You can find out more about Mhairi’s PhD here, bit.ly/4p9fh0E

By reflecting on a day of archaeological fieldwork, she considered the multidisciplinary approach of her project & what it means to complete emotionally engaged archaeology. The paper was part of the panel '(In)Tangible Pasts', exploring Gaelic & Hebridean heritage, culture & archaeology.

Close-up photo of a woman smiling

Presentation slide with a text reading A Thatched House in Torlum Exploring the Boundaries Archaeological Practice.

A roofless stone building, set in a grassy landscape

Last month one of our PGRs, Mhairi Ferrier, presented a paper ‘A Thatched House in Torlum: Exploring the Boundaries of Archaeological Practice’ at the @scotarchforum.bsky.social's conference in Edinburgh.

@thinkuhi.bsky.social

Her dissertation, 'Propaganda in the Cinemas: Short Films as a Method of Propaganda in Britain during the Second World War (1939-45)' examines how the Ministry of Information infused key propaganda messages with comedy & drama, reaching a large number of people through the cinema.

Smiling woman, wearing a graduation gown and hood, holding a degree scroll

Man and woman both wearing graduation gowns and hoods, both holding on to a degree scroll

Two women wearing academic gowns, both holding onto a picture frame with a certificate in it. In front of them there is a ceremonial mace.

We are so proud to celebrate this year's winner of the James Hunter Dissertation Prize, Joy Rollinson! The prize is awarded to the best 1st Class UG dissertation & is named after our founder, Professor Jim Hunter. Find out more on our website, bit.ly/44oV3HX

Book cover of Harvie’s Dyke: The People, Their Liberty and the Clyde by Christopher A. Whatley. The cover features sketch-like illustrations of people in historical attire holding tools or weapons, set against a parchment-style background.

Join us for our next History Talks Live seminar event. The speaker will be Christopher Whatley, Professor Emeritus in Scottish History, University of Dundee.

📷Tuesday 9 December 2025
📷 7-8.30pm
📷Online

To find out more, visit bit.ly/3K4hXNX

@uhihistory.bsky.social

Her doctoral thesis explored the narrative strategies in Outlander and historical fiction as public history, and she is pictured above with her supervisors Dr Jim MacPherson and Dr Leslie Mickel at her viva in June 2025.

Congratulations again!

Three people smiling at the camera

It has been a busy graduations season at
@thinkuhi.bsky.social, and we would like to congratulate all our students celebrating their achievements! Big congratulations especially to one of our PG Researchers, Dr Alex Dold, who is graduating today at the UHI celebrations at Eden Court, Inverness!

This is the #history degree I am doing. I am doing it part-time. So part time it will take me 12 years! But history is about the long-haul, so that fits!

I am loving it! Happy to say why, if anyone wants to know.

Are you interested in studying a humanities subject? Are you interested in studying a humanities subject? Find out where studying a history, heritage or social studies degree can take you.

Start your undergraduate History studies at @uhihistory.bsky.social in January 2026!

Join us on Thursday 27 November (6.30-8pm) to learn more about studying Humanities at UHI, and where a degree in Humanities can take you.

For more information and to book your place, visit bit.ly/3JtXfad

Two people having a discussion, sat at a table with a book and an archival folder on it.

The team are hugely grateful to Alison Diamond (archivist at Inveraray castle & member of the project's advisory board, pictured here with Carl Griffin) & Rory Crutchfield, archivist in Lochgilphead for their help & interest in the research. Find out more, bit.ly/468RTJS

The project team is very excited by the diversity of resistance they have uncovered in less than 6 months into the project. In a few days in Argyll alone, this included petitioning, wood and bark stealing, ‘mobbing’, wrecking and the inevitable poaching and illicit distilling.

Stone wall of a building, with a plaque reading 'Estate Archives'.

Mist-covered hill

Woman reading a document, sat at a table with several archival folders on it.

Man reading a document, sat at a table with several archival folders on it.

Iain Robertson, Carl Griffin & @juliettedesportes.bsky.social recently spent a week visiting Inveraray Castle archives & @argyllandbute.bsky.social archives in Lochgilphead to conduct archival research for their @leverhulmetrust.bsky.social funded project Landscapes of Protest.

The talk will explore two interconnected strands of research ongoing as part of the Perth Charterhouse project; new insights arising from both research into the documentary evidence & results of the initial phase of Ground-Penetrating Radar scanning of the site in September 2024.

Illuminating the Vale of Virtue: New Light on Perth’s Lost Charterhouse | Perthshire Box Office

Join our Dr Lucy Dean for a free talk, 'Illuminating the Vale of Virtue: New Light on Perth’s Lost Charterhouse'!

📆 Thu 20 Nov
🕖 7pm
📍 AK Bell Library, Perth

To find out more and to book your place, visit bit.ly/47Br3cO

You can follow Dr Woodcock's research journey on our website. The first post details Dr Woodcock's visit to
@traquairhouse.bsky.social in Peebles, and the discoveries she made in its archives. To read the full post, visit our website ➡️ bit.ly/4omKflS

A castle-style fortified mansion, flanked by lush green trees and a lawn leading up to the gates.

Our Dr Philippa Woodcock is a recipient of the David Berry Fellowship for the History of Scotland & the Scottish People by the @royalhistsoc.org, and the funding is supporting her project ”They wept together”: Investigating miscarriage, taboo & support in early modern Scotland.

Feargus completed both his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at @uhihistory.bsky.social, and currently works at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. He has worked at the High Life Highland museums service for almost a decade.

Man wearing kilt, shirt and tie with graduation robes standing in front of museum display boards.

This week is Heritage Careers Week and we took the opportunity to chat to our recent graduate, Feargus Murray, about his experiences of working in the museums sector! To read the full story, visit bit.ly/42Ym3O4

📣 Call for Papers 📣

See below for further details on the conference Mapping Identities: Visual Depictions of Scotland organised by
@insuhi.bsky.social!

DL for Expressions of Interest & short biographies is 17 December, see original post for further details ⬇️

These themes are examined further in the @leverhulme.ac.uk funded project 'Resistance to 'improvement' in the Highlands and Islands', led by Iain Robertson (UHI Centre for History), Carl Griffin (University of Sussex) and Juliette Desportes (UHI Centre for History), bit.ly/468RTJS

Using archival research from her PhD and upcoming monograph, Juliette explored the ways rural workers utilised every opportunity to negotiate for longer leases, subvert estate authorities to pay less rent, or resisted removals in court.

Collage of two photos, one showing a woman smiling at the camera, the other an image of handwritten signatures in the background, with the text 'Land reform 'from below'? Highland Tenants and the emergence of the 18th century estate landscape'. Below the text logos of UHI Centre for History and Scottish Historical Review Trust are shown.

Our Dr Juliette Desportes gave a talk at @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social's Scottish History seminar in September, focusing on uncovering Highland estate tenants' attitudes towards agrarian 'improvement' in the mid-eighteenth century.

Theresa completed her postgraduate studies at @uhihistory.bsky.social & has kept in touch with us, meeting up with Dr Elizabeth Ritchie in Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver, Dornoch and Bettyhill. Most recently, Theresa and Dr Ritchie met up on the Isle of Lewis. Congratulations again! #ThinkUHI

Woman wearing a graduation gown, hood and a mortar board hat, holding a bouquet of flowers.

It’s graduation season at @thinkuhi.bsky.social & and we are thrilled to also celebrate our alumni who have continued their academic journeys elsewhere after @uhihistory.bsky.social! Big congratulations to Dr Theresa Mackay, who received her doctorate from @uvic.ca, BC this summer!

Feargus graduated from our MLitt History programme in 2024 with a distinction & has worked within the High Life Highland's museum service for almost a decade.

Booking is essential for this event, so for further information and to buy your tickets ➡️ bit.ly/3IEKQje

Pictish carving on a stone shown in the background, with a text reading 'The Museum's early collection - 200 years of collecting'

Join our recent graduate Feargus Murray on Tue 28 October(2.30-4pm) at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery for an illustrated talk celebrating 200 years of collecting! This is an opportunity to learn more about the beginnings of the museum: who was donating and what they were collecting, bit.ly/3IEKQje