Professor Alison Cathcart

Professor

History A64 Pathfoot Division of History and Politics University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA

Professor Alison Cathcart

About me

I grew up on the edges of the Atlantic, in Derry City, but decided to look out over a different body of water while continuing with my education. I made my way, via two years in Dublin (and the Irish Sea), to Aberdeen (and the North Sea) where I graduated with a BA (Hons) in History in 1996 and a PhD in History in 2001. After working for three years at the University of St Andrews I felt the average rainfall level in the east was not substantial enough so I moved back west to join the University of Strathclyde in 2005. In 2019 I was fortunate enough to be appointed to the University of Stirling where I can contemplate both water and hills.

My interests increasingly lie in those communities that live at the intersect of land and sea, communities and areas often regarded as 'peripheral' to mainstream political, social and economic development. Having recently completed a monograph on processes of plantation by land and sea around the North Channel region, my attention is now focused on island communities within the archipelago and the interplay between local, regional, national and supra-national while also exploring customary legal practices on land and sea.

Award

Teaching Impact Award

Highly commended by the panel for my role at LTO

Research Culture Award

Nominated for a Research Culture Award in the Outstanding Mentor category


Consultancy

North Channel
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Was interviewed by Helen Mark for an episode of BBC Radio 4 programme Open Country on the North Channel, first aired on 26 August 2021.


Divisional / Faculty Contribution

Learning and Teaching Officer for History, Heritage and Politics

Learning and Teaching Officer for History, Heritage and Politics

Head of Division
I will be Head of Division of History, Heritage and Politics from August 2023.


Event / Presentation

Re-thinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland

invited to present at ‘Re-thinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland: A Conference in Honour of Roger A. Mason’, Parliament Hall, University of St Andrews

‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’?: maritime activity in the North Channel, c.1493-c.1620

invited to speak to Bute Museum and Natural History Society, Rothesay, Bute

‘The reparatioun of the said harborie is most necessaire and expedient for the honnour creditte and benefeit of the whole cuntrey’: Ayr and plantation in Ireland, c.1550-1625

27 February 2020: invited to speak at to Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

James V and the kingship of Ireland (again)

26 November 2020: invited to speak at University of St Andrews Scottish History seminar series

Scotland and the Atlantic archipelagic world
University of St Andrews

invited to present research at the 'Flodden Gap' conference held at University of St Andrews on 1 September 2021.

‘They offered to give what they do not even hope to gain’: Ireland, Orkney and Shetland, and kingship in the reign of James V

invited to present research paper to Institute of Northern Studies seminar series on ‘‘They offered to give what they do not even hope to gain’: Ireland, Orkney and Shetland, and kingship in the reign of James V’

‘James VI and the creation of a ‘British’ maritime policy: the view from the west’

-11 November 2021: invited to present online lecture to the Society for Highland and Island Historical Research on ‘James VI and the creation of a ‘British’ maritime policy: the view from the west’.

James V and the kingship of Ireland (again).

23 February 2021: invited to speak at University of Aberdeen joint RIIS and EMSC seminar.

‘standing on the shoulders of giants’: James VI and I and his empire of islands

9 November 2022: invited to speak at Centre for Scottish Studies at Stirling

‘the scattered isles in the polar ocean’: Scotland’s northern shores in the sixteenth century

7-8 December 2022 was invited to speak at a two-day online international workshop in December 2022, ‘Casting Off’, a Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded project ‘Scottish Shores: Gothic Coastal Environments'

‘the scattered isles in the polar ocean’? Scotland and the isles in the early modern period

presented at Royal Society of Edinburgh event: Islands - Past held at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, 29 April 2023

King James VI and I and his empire of islands

gave the 2023 King James VI Coronation Anniversary Lecture, held in the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling

Ayrshire and the plantations in Ulster

presented at Johnstone Local History Society, 10 October 2023

“The ‘scattered isles in the polar ocean’: Scotland and the sea in the (long) sixteenth century.”

keynote lecture at New Researchers in Maritime History Conference, the British Commission for Maritime History (BCMH), in association with the University of Strathclyde, University of Strathclyde, 22-23 March 2024

George Buchanana and the Highlands and Isles

giving the Buchanan lecture as part of Stirling Council's Off The Page festival, held at Wallace Monument, 22 May 2024

‘James VI and I and his empire of islands’

presented at the Séminaire franco- britannique d’histoire at the Sorbonne Université, Paris, on 1 February 2024


Examining

Internal examiner

Internal examiner for two History PhDs.


External Examiners and Validations

External examiner

External Examiner for BA (Hons) Scottish History, North Highland College, Dornoch, University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute (1 September 2007 to 31 August 2011)

External examiner

External Examiner for Medieval and Early Modern Scotland, c.1100-1707 (Distance Learning/OU History), University of Dundee (1 February 2010 to 31 October 2013)

External examiner

External Examiner for medieval and early modern History, History and Politics division, University of Stirling (1 September 2014 to June 2016)

External examiner

External Examiner for PhD at University of Glasgow

External Examiner, University of Aberdeen

External Examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate taught level in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy (for History), University of Aberdeen (1 October 2017 to 30 September 2021)

External examiner for University of Glasgow Short Courses
University of Glasgow
External examiner for History and Politics Short Courses


Other Academic Activities

Co-editor of Archipelagic Studies
This book series with Peter Lang focuses on the islands of the North Atlantic archipelago and on the water that surrounds those islands from pre-history through to the eighteenth century. Moving beyond traditional national histories, the series will highlight research that examines localities or regions bounded by geography and transnational studies of the Insular world, and connections between peoples and societies within the archipelago and their neighbours to the south (Brittany, Normandy and beyond) and the north (Norway and beyond). Archipelagic Studies will explore a range of themes (landscape, society, culture, language, religion, trade networks) and incorporate a number of disciplines and approaches (archaeology, heritage, history, literature, historical ecology, environmental, marine, political, social).

Economic and Social History Pathway Rep for Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences
Economic and Social History Pathway Rep for Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (and was ECSH Pathway Rep for a number of years during my previous employment at University of Strathclyde).

Member of the Committee for British Academy's Records of Social and Economic History series
Member of the Committee for British Academy's Records of Social and Economic History series

Membership of Editorial Board for Journal of the North Atlantic
Membership of Editorial Board for Journal of the North Atlantic

Routledge Resources Online: the Renaissance World
Member of the advisory board for ‘Society in the British Isles and Northern Europe’ section of the Routledge Resources Online: the Renaissance World


Professional Career

Trustee of Scottish Medievalists

Scottish History Society council member

Trustee of Society for Highland and Island Historical Research


Professional membership

Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Fellow, Royal Historical Society
Fellow, Royal Historical Society