The William R McFarlane PhD Scholarship

One scholarship will be awarded to the best full-time applicant who meets the criteria below and is accepted onto a PhD in History.

Applicants for the scholarship must be able to demonstrate the relevance of their proposed project to the history of Scottish emigration and/or the impact of Scottish mobility on overseas countries or related themes. Proposals may focus on any period from the medieval centuries to recent times.

The scholarship is funded by leading financier Alan McFarlane and his wife, Anne.

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 30 June 2013.

The William R McFarlane PhD Scholarship - further details

Dr Niall Whelehan awarded prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship

Dr Niall Whelehan, currently an Early Career Fellow in History affiliated with the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, was recently awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Research Agency to support a new project on ‘Transnational protest: social movements and political mobilisation across Ireland and the Irish diaspora, 1879-1903’.

Marie Curie Fellowship - further details

Dr Tawny Paul's research grant success

Dr Tawny Paul has been awarded a research grant from Challenge Investment Fund to support collaborative working with Dr Stephen Harwood of the Business School. Sheila Asante, freelance curator and former curator of 'Migration Stories' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, joins the team as the project researcher.

The grant supports a ten-month project entitled 'Marketing Scotland's Past', which seeks to explore the synergies between history and business through a case study of cultural heritage and place-making in the Edinburgh World Heritage Site. Tourism is important to Scotland's economy and Scotland's heritage and history are important to tourism. 

One of the main reasons that visitors come to Scotland is to learn more about history and culture. However, effective development and promotion of Scotland's heritage depends upon better knowledge of visitor expectations and experiences. This inter-disciplinary project examines how heritage is presented by both museums and commercial interests, how it is experienced by visitors, and how all of these interests collectively create a sense of place identity in Edinburgh.

The study aims to identify conceptual and methodological issues within heritage studies that can be driven forward by collaborative working between history and business studies, and to establish a dialogue between businesses, museums and academics in Edinburgh.

Centre MSc student wins Royal Historical Society / History Scotland Prize

MSc in Diaspora and Migration History student Katie Forbes has been awarded the 2012 Royal Historical Society / History Scotland Prize.

The prize was awarded for her undergraduate dissertation, 'Identity, migration and settlement; the Isle of Lewis and Quebec, c.1800-1914'. The essay is to be published in two parts in History Scotland, the first part is available in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue.

History Scotland

Royal Historical Society prizes

MSc in Diaspora and Migration History

Start the Week

The Director of the Centre took part in BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, hosted by Andrew Marr, on Monday 10 December 2012.

The subject was 'Scotland'. Other guests were the writer Alasdair Gray and the crime novelist Ian Rankin.

BBC website - to listen to the programme

The Curse of Reason: The Great Irish Famine

Enda Delaney, Associate Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, talked about his new book on The Curse of Reason: The Great Irish Famine, with Ireland's leading broadcaster Ryan Turbidy on RTE Radio.

RTE Radio website - to listen to the programme

Scottish Government funds major conference

The Scottish Government has awarded £37,000 to the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies to help support a two-day conference during the next Year of Homecoming in July 2014.

Scottish Government funding for Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies conference - further details

Former PhD student of the Centre publishes innovative book

Dr Mario Varricchio, who completed his doctorate in 2012, has edited Back to Caledonia: Scottish Homecomings from the 17th Century to the Present (John Donald, 2012).

The book presents the proceedings of an international symposium on the subject organised by SCDS in 2010. It is the most ambitious study to date on Scottish return emigration, a vital but under-researched aspect of the nation's diasporic experience. The volume is emphatically multidisciplinary and includes the perspectives of anthropology,sociology and literature as well as history.

Back to Caledonia: Scottish Homecomings from the 17th Century to the Present - further details

Professor Tom Devine awarded Royal Society prize

Professor Tom Devine, Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, has been awarded the RSE Sir Walter Scott Prize for his outstanding contribution to the study of Scottish History. Announcing the award the RSE drew particular attention to Professor Devine’s ability to communicate to a broad international audience. This is an inaugural Prize awarded by the RSE in recognition of ‘excellence in the Humanities and Creative Arts’.

On 8 August 2012, a motion was lodged before the Scottish Parliament by Clare Adamson (Scottish National Party) congratulating Professor Devine on his RSE prize, and recognising the depth and breadth of his contribution to Scottish history.

Royal Society prize - further details

Leverhulme Artist-in-Residence Funding award for Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies

Artist Catriona Taylor and SCDS Associate Director Dr Alex Murdoch have been awarded Leverhulme Trust funding for a one-year residency by the artist based in History, Classics & Archaeology.

Work created while artist-in-residence at the NLS                          

Catriona Taylor will build on the success of an earlier residency at the National Library of Scotland to work with SCDS researchers to develop workshops and an exhibition exploring aspects of migration to, as well as from, Scotland. She will commit two days a week to work with SCDS, developing her practice by looking at contemporary Diaspora narratives and engaging with immigrant communities in Scotland. She will interrogate current research to bring her practice up to date and weave together various aspects of her craft such as printing, film-making and sound installation.

Leverhulme Artist-in-Residence - further details

Dr Ugolini awarded Gladstone History Book Prize

Dr Wendy Ugolini, has been awarded the Gladstone History Book Prize for her publication, Experiencing War as the 'Enemy Other': Italian Scottish Experience in World War II.

This prestigious prize is awarded by the Royal Historical Society for a first book on a historical subject which is not primarily related to British history.

Gladstone History Book Prize - further details

The Scotland Trilogy by Tom Devine scheduled for publication in July

Professor Tom Devine's three books on modern Scottish History, published by Penguin in 1999, 2003 and 2011, are to reappear in July 2012 as The Scotland Trilogy in new paperback format as The Scottish Nation: a Modern History (updated); Scotland's Empire: the Origins of the Global Diaspora; To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora.

The Scottish Nation: a Modern History - further details
Scotland's Empire: the Origins of the Global Diaspora - further details

To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora - further details

Centre co-sponsors major international conference on Britain and the World
21-23 June 2012

Historians from across the globe will meet in Edinburgh in late June to debate Britain's role in world development since the seventeenth century. For interim programme and registration details see:

Director of the Centre to take part in major Times debate on the future of the Union

Professor Devine is one of the key speakers at a one day conference on 'Scotland and the Union: what future?' which is sponsored by The Times at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Friday 2 March. Other contributors include Alex Salmond MSP, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, Alastair Darling MP, Andrew Marr and James Harding, editor of The Times.

Book of the Year Success for To the Ends of the Earth

To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora 1750-2010 (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2011) by Professor Tom Devine was named a Book of the Year 2011 in the Spectator, New Statesman, Scotland on Sunday and The Herald.

Director of SCDS awarded Scotland's premier academic prize for public engagement

Professor Tom Devine has been awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh Beltane Senior Prize for Public Engagement 2012.

The University of Dundee’s Dr Nicola Stanley-Wall has been announced as the winner of the RSE Beltane Innovator’s Prize for Public Engagement 2012.

With these prestigious prizes the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Beltane aim to recognise and promote excellence in public engagement with research; fostering a culture in which researchers consider good communication an integral part of their work.

Professor Mary Bownes, Vice Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Chair of the Committee that selected this year’s winners, commented “The task of choosing the winners was once again extremely difficult; the candidates were of extremely high calibre and we could have easily given out several awards. We are delighted with the selection of Professor Devine, who is excellent at engaging the wider community with Scottish History, and Dr Stanley-Wall, whose innovative engagement activities in Molecular Microbiology exhibit potential for future developments.”

On winning the prize, Professor Devine commented “I am deeply honoured to be awarded this prestigious prize in the vital field of public engagement in which so much brilliant work is now being done in the universities to the huge intellectual and cultural benefit of Scottish society”.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh Beltane Prizes 2012 - Press release

Dr Wendy Ugolini lecture to Society of Antiquaries Anniversary Meeting

Dr Wendy Ugolini presented an introduction to "Wha bears a blade for Scotland?": the construction of Scottish diasporic military identities, c.1880- present day, a joint project between the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies and the National Museums Scotland exploring the meaning of military Scottishness among the diaspora from the 19th century to the present day.

A video of the lecture is available on the Society of Antiquaries website.

"Wha bears a blade for Scotland?": the construction of Scottish diasporic military identities, c.1880- present day lecture video

Society of Antiquaries Anniversary Meeting 2011 - Further information

Professor’s history masterclass set to inspire pupils

Professor Tom Devine is to meet school pupils at a one-off event in a bid to inspire them to engage with Scottish heritage and culture.

Best selling author, Professor Tom Devine will speak about the remarkable influence of Scotland on shaping the modern world at the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s annual Christmas lecture on Monday, December 12 at the Glasgow Science Centre.

The event, for an invited audience of 350 of senior pupils, will be webcast 'live' by BBC Scotland to schools and the wider ‎public across the UK.‎

The schools lecture is now full. However, schools can still take part via the live webcast.

An evening lecture is open to all members of the public, at ‎‎7pm on Monday 12 December‎.

Professor's history masterclass set to inspire pupils - Further details

The Royal Society of Edinburgh Christmas Lecture 2011, To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora - Further details

Professor Tom Devine's book shortlisted for two 2011 Saltire Society Literary Prizes

Professor Tom Devine's recent book, To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora 1750-2010 (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2011), has been shortlisted for two Saltire Society Literary Prizes 2011, the History Book of the Year and the Research Book of the Year. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in the National Library of Scotland on 1 December.

The book has also been selected by the First Minister of Scotland as his favourite read of 2011 in The Herald and Scotsman Books of the Year features.

The Saltire Society Literary Awards - Further details

The Herald Books of the Year - Further details

The Scotsman Books of the year - Further details

Professor Tom Devine to give both The Royal Society of Edinburgh and National Museum of Scotland 2011 Christmas Lectures

Professor Tom Devine will deliver the annual RSE Christmas lecture, 'To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora' on 12th December and the NMS Christmas lecture 'A Global History of the Scottish People' on 14th December.

Professor’s history masterclass set to inspire pupils

The New Wave of Irish Emigration

Enda Delaney, Associate Director of SCDS, has contributed an opinion piece to the 'Generation Emigration' series in The Irish Times, Ireland's leading newspaper. This series explores the recent mass exodus that has resulted from the dramatic economic downturn in Ireland, and Dr Delaney argues that this new wave should be seen in historical context.

The article is available here:
www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2011/11/02/traditions-of-emigration-the-irish-habit-of-going-away/

Scottish Government PhD Studentship

Scottish Diaspora Studies

This studentship is funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Funding Council, and is part of a larger grant made by to the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

deadline for receipt of applications 31 May 2012

Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies Annual review for 2010/11

Applications sought for Three Fixed-Term Career Development Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Scottish Diaspora History and Migration Studies

These awards have been made possible through generous funding from the Scottish Government in support of expansion of research activity associated with the Scottish Centre of Diaspora Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Applications are invited from scholars of the highest calibre with a strong record of publication and research in Diaspora History or Diaspora Studies who hold a doctorate or will be awarded their doctorate by December 2011.

The appointments are tenable for two years, from 1 January 2012 until 31 December 2013.

Closing date 14 October 2011

Fellowship at New York Historical Society for Diaspora Centre graduate

Matthew Dziennik, a previous affiliated student at the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies who completed his PhD in 2011, has been been awarded the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Postdoctoral Fellowship at the New York Historical Society.

Charting Scotland's global influence

New research reassessing Scotland’s influence on the modern world has been launched at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

The pre-eminent Historian, Professor Tom Devine, Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University charted the story of the Scots at home and abroad over the last three centuries in his latest book To The Ends of the Earth.

Charting Scotland's global influence - further details

Ways with words

With ‘revolution’ as its overarching theme, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is set to begin on August 13.

Academics and researchers from the University will be amongst the 750 events and 800 authors populating Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square Gardens for two weeks of debate, readings, and signings.

Festival highlights
Highlights include Professor Tom Devine launching the third and final volume of his trilogy charting the history of Scotland.

To The Ends of the Earth follows the global migrations of the Scottish people since the 18th century.

Professor Devine is also taking part in a panel discussion on the teaching of national histories in The Wonderfulness of Us, an event presented by the London Review of Books.

Edinburgh International Book Festival - further details

Museum relaunch opens doors

The National Museum of Scotland reopens its doors this summer after a £47 million redevelopment.

Among the items on display, 80% of which will be seen for the first time, several tell the tale of the University’s relationship with the Museum.

The two institutions are more than just neighbours. They share a common history and active links today and the Museum also has strong links with several of the University’s subject areas and centres including The Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies.

Museum relaunch opens doors - further details

Publication of Scottish Philosophy in Transnational Contexts symposium papers

We are pleased to record that the IASH/SCDS Spring 2011 symposium on Scottish philosophy in transnational contexts will form the basis of a special issue of the scholarly journal History of European Ideas, published by Elsevier. Publication is anticipated by late 2012.

Discussion at the symposium, centred in particular on the reception of Scottish moral philosophy in late eighteenth and nineteenth century France, England, the USA and Canada, as well as on the extent to which this influence related to exceptional qualities in the Scottish tradition of the exposition of moral philosophy.

SCDS would like to thank Brad Bow, one of the doctoral students affiliated with the Centre, for planning and contributing to the symposium, as well as becoming guest editor for the special issue in which its proceedings will be published.

SCDS would also wish to thank the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities for hosting the event, the second occasion in which SCDS and IASH have collaborated successfully.

Sectarianism in Scotland: Myth or Reality?

A podcast and video of the debate held on Monday 23rd May 2011 are now available

Fellowship at American Philosophical Society for Diaspora Centre research student

Sarah McCaslin, a PhD student and McFarlane scholar at the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology and a research student at the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, has been been awarded a one month fellowship at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh funding for joint project with National Museums Scotland on Scottish diasporic military identities

Dr Wendy Ugolini, Acting Associate Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies (SCDS) and David Forsyth, Senior Curator, Scottish Social History and Diaspora of National Museums Scotland (NMS) have successfully secured funding from The Royal Society of Edinburgh to undertake a joint project on Scottish diasporic military identities. The funding will enable the two organisations to host an international workshop and research colloquium in 2012, bringing together leading historians and curators from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK to examine the adoption of military Scottishness within Commonwealth countries from 1880 to the present day.  

By focusing on the period of mass migration of the late nineteenth century up to the present, the project - ‘ “Wha bears a blade for Scotland?”’ - aims to develop a critical understanding of the complexity of connections between Scotland and its diasporic communities, addressing wider questions of ethnicity, identity and national belonging.

Significant Government funding for the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies announced

The global family of Scots

At a time of year when Scots around the globe are thinking of home, the Scottish Government has announced it is financing four new research posts that seek to understand the modern dispersion of Scots from their homeland.

Funding of £200,000 over two years is supporting a PhD studentship and three post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Diaspora Studies to help inform the Government's policy on engaging Scotland's diaspora.

External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop said:

"We recently published a Diaspora Engagement Strategy which sets out how Team Scotland will seek to engage with the estimated 40 million individuals around the world who share a connection with Scotland.

"There is a sound economic basis for engaging with the diaspora and indeed Scotland has been recognised as being particularly well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities of engaging with its global family. Of course, it is important that such engagement is undertaken with a sound understanding of those connections and the nature of the relationships.

"Funding of these posts will build a sound research base to help inform development of a robust approach that can reap the full benefit of Scotland engaging with its diaspora."

Professor Tom Devine, Head of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies said:

"The Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies is very pleased to acknowledge this generous support from the Scottish Government for our work in this key area of research. This funding will enable the Centre to extend its work into the modern diaspora, an aspect of the long history of Scottish emigration which is little understood at present.

"It is most gratifying that the Government has signalled that its own framework for more engagement with the global Scottish diaspora will now be underpinned and guided by rigorous and independent academic research.

"The Minister for Culture and External Affairs and her colleagues have given a most welcome vote of confidence in the relevance and importance of high-quality scholarship in the humanities and social sciences in helping to shape this aspect of government policy."

The Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies was launched in 2008 with an endowment of £1 million from an Edinburgh fund manager and his family, thought to be the largest single private gift ever made for historical research in the UK.

The role of the Centre is to re-assess Scotland's influence on the shaping of the modern world. A key focus is to examine how Scots influenced societies, economies and cultures around the world - not just the New World of Australia, New Zealand and North America, but countries such as Sweden, Poland and France, as well as Asia.

Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies Annual review for 2009/10 and strategic plan for 2010/11

General Council and University of Edinburgh Lecture by Professor Tom Devine, 12 June 2010

A joint General Council and University of Edinburgh Lecture was held on Saturday 12 June 2010 in the University of Hong Kong on the occasion of the Half-Yearly Meeting of the General Council. The lecture by Professor T M Devine was entitled ‘An Empire of Commerce: Three Centuries of Scottish Enterprise in the East’.

To view video of the lecture please follow the link, www.general-council.ed.ac.uk/video_gallery_events.htm.

Professor Tom Devine has been invited by the University of Wales to give the 2009-10 O'Donnell Lectures

Professor Tom Devine has been invited by the University of Wales to give the 2009-10 O'Donnell Lectures. The series will be presented consecutively at the constituent Colleges of the University, Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Lampeter, and Swansea in spring 2011. Previous O'Donnell Lecturers include Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe FBA, Professor Wendy Davies FBA, Professor Patrick Sims-Williams FBA and Lord Kenneth Morgan FBA.

Professor Tom Devine made three appearances at Edinburgh Festivals in August 2010

For the third successive year Tom Devine spoke at the International Book Festival on 18 August; the following day at the Fringe in the first-ever Knowledge Festival, sponsored by Heriot-Watt University; and, finally, at the official Festival itself, on the 24 August, he was in discussion with the producer and director of the new National Theatre of Scotland play, Caledonia, which recounts the story of the Darien disaster.

Prestigious Swiss scholarship for Diaspora Centre research student

David Hesse, a second-year PhD student at the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology and a research student at the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, has won a prestigious scholarship in his native Switzerland. David was awarded one of the Swiss National Science Foundation's competitive Prospective Researchers Scholarships in July 2010. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is the most important Swiss agency promoting scientific research. It is mandated by the Swiss Federal government.

Professor Tom Devine to become next Chair of the Advisory Board of the USA based British Scholar Society

Professor Tom Devine will become the next Chair for a five year period of the US-based British Scholar Society, publishers of the journal, British Scholar, and organisers of the annual British Scholar Conference. He succeeds Professor W Roger Louis CBE FBA, the renowned historian of empire, of the University of Texas at Austin.

SCDS singled out for praise in University Annual Review by Principal and Vice Chancellor

"a truly innovative research initiative"

Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, December 2009

The University of Edinburgh Annual Review 2008/2009

Quarter of Pilgrim Fathers returned home

Where Tomorrow Begins: Reflections of Scottish Innovation

Tomorrow... We will have mapped Scotland's impact on the world

A six month, touring exhibition by Scotland's universities, forming an important part of the Homecoming Scotland celebrations.

Further details

Edinburgh International Festival

Prof Tom Devine spoke at the International Festival on 16 August (Scotland Exports the Enlightenment ), the Book Festival on 17th (Why did the Scottish Enlightenment Happen?) and the Scottish Parliament's Festival of Politics on 19 August. In addition, on 25 July, he delivered the keynote address at the Scottish Diaspora Forum, an important event of the Year of Homecoming celebrations, in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament before a distinguished invited audience.

Further details - Scottish Diaspora Forum

Further details - Festival

Fellowship success for Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies

New Postgraduate Degree in Diaspora and Migration History, the only one of its kind in the UK, launched by Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Edinburgh

Notable success for the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies