Scottish History research seminars

The Scottish History research seminars provide an opportunity for discussion of current research developments on a range of themes relating to Scottish history across a broad chronological period, from early medieval to modern. Seminars take place throughout the academic year and are open to all.

Time and location

All seminars take place on Thursdays, 5:15–6:30pm in Meadows Lecture Theatre, unless otherwise stated.

All are welcome to attend, and it is not necessary to book a place in advance.  Seminars will normally take place in hybrid format, with online joining instructions circulated via the Scottish History seminar mailing list. If you would like to join the Scottish History research seminars mailing list, please email scot-hist-seminars@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk or contact the organisers.

Event schedule

Semester 1 2025/26

Wed 24 SepBook Launch and Discussion – Martha McGill and Alasdair Raffe (eds.)‘The Scottish State and the Experience of Government, c.1560-1707: Essays in Honour of Julian Goodare’, featuring contributions by Dr Amy Blakeway (St Andrews) and Professor Laura Stewart (York) 5.30pm
Thu 2 OctColin MacIlwain (University of Edinburgh) ‘The Governance of the Scottish New Towns, 1947-96’  
Thu 9 OctTabea Hochstrasser (Umeå University, Sweden)‘Murder in the Lowlands: Popular Ideas from the Eighteenth Century’ 
Thu 16 OctDr Juliette Desportes (UHI) ‘Land Reform ‘from below’? Highland Tenants and the Emergence of the 18th Century Estate Landscape’  
Thu 23 OctProfessor Alex Woolf (University of St Andrews) ‘From Irish Province to English Fief: The Making of the Scottish Kingdom’  
Thu 30 OctDr John McCallum (University of Edinburgh) ‘Fury, Frenzy, and Blind Zeal: Representations of Emotion in Scottish Reformation Polemic’  
Thu 6 Thu Dr Nicole Cumming ‘Animals, the Environment and the ‘Protestant’ Worldview in Seventeenth-Century Scotland, c.1600-1660’  
Thu 13 Thu Dr Stephen Rainbird (University of Edinburgh) ‘The Church of Scotland and the Spanish Civil War’  
Thu 20 Thu  Prof Andrew Simpson (University of Aberdeen) ‘The Earliest Surviving Version of the ‘Leges et Consuetudines Quatuor Burgorum’: Fresh Perspectives’  

Further information

Please contact the organisers, Dr Emily Ward and Dr John McCallum, for further information.

Dr Emily Ward, Lecturer in Medieval Scottish History

Dr John McCallum, Lecturer in Early Modern Scottish History

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Find out what else is on

The School of History, Classics and Archaeology offers an exciting programme of seminars across many subjects areas. Visit the research seminars website to find out what else is happening.