Teaching and Academic

Academic and Research Posts

Currently, I lecture with the Department of Classics and Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Glasgow and am an Honorary Research Associate with the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge. At Glasgow I offer teaching on Celtic cultures in the Ancient Cultures MSc and I lead the online courses Introducing Celtic Inscriptions and Celtic Art and Architecture in Continuing Education.

Between 2013 to 2017 I taught on several language and literature modules at the University of Nottingham, and was awarded a Staff Oscar by the University of Nottingham Students’ Union for Most Inspiring Teacher in 2015.

Membership of Professional Bodies

Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Member, Scottish Society for Northern Studies
Member, The Scottish Medievalists
Member, Runes, Monuments and Memorial Carvings International Research Network
Honorary Research Associate, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge

Selection of Papers and Presentations

‘Pictish Writing and Pictish Symbols: Decoding the Newton Stone’. Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 23 February 2023.

‘The Lost and Forgotten Early Inscribed Stones of Pictland‘. Common Ground: A Conference in Honour of Anna Ritchie, 5-6 March 2022.

‘The Gods and Myths of the Picts’. Save Ancient Studies Alliance Master Class, 29 October 2021.

‘Pictish Myth and Religion’. Pictish Arts Society Annual Conference, 3rd October 2021. The paper is available to view here, and the film on media.

‘The Pictish Gods’. Picts in the North: the Conan Stone in Context , 13 March 2021.

‘Manuscripts and Writing in Pictland: New Thoughts on the Newton Stone Inscriptions’. Pictish Arts Society Public Lecture. Brechin Museum, 17^th May 2019.

‘The Place-names of Llyfr Aneirin and the Cult of St Kentigern’. Scottish Place-Name Society Conference. Perth Museum, 5 May 2018.

‘The Hackness Cross: the Power of Script and Image, Female Literacy and International Aspirations in an Anglo-Saxon Community’. Eighth International Insular Arts Conference. University of Glasgow, 13 July 2017.

‘The Place-names of a Royal Anglo-Saxon Landscape: a Toponymic Survey of Rendlesham and the Deben Valley’. Anglo-Saxon Rendlesham Day Conference. The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, 24 September 2016.

‘Place-Names, Landscapes and Church Dedications of Suffolk’. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History: Wheeler Conference and Book Launch. Columbine Hall, Stowupland, 23 April 2016.

‘The Representation of “the Book” in Early Medieval Insular Sculpture’. Pictish Arts Society Public Lecture. Brechin Museum, 15 April 2016.

‘The Place-Names and Landscapes in the Vita Sancti Guthlaci’. Guthlac of Crowland: Celebrating 1300 Years. University of London, School of Advanced Studies, 10 April 2014.

‘Hebridean Place-Names and Monastic Identity in the Vita Sancti Columbae’. Scottish Place-Name Society Conference. University of Aberdeen, 4 May 2013.

‘Latin, Runes and Pseudo-Ogham: The Enigma of the Hackness Stone’. International Research Network Runes, Monuments and Memorial Carvings Second Workshop. Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 8 April 2013.

‘Place, Identity and Social Memory in Early Welsh Poetry: A Comparative Study of Place-Name Reception in Y Gododdin and the Poems of Taliesin’. International Medieval Congress. University of Leeds, July 2012.

‘A Case-Study of Nemeton Place-Names/Une Étude de Cas de l’Étymologie des noms de lieux Nemeton’. Société Belge d’Etudes Celtiques. Institute des Hautes Etudes de Belgique,Brussels. May 2011.

‘Cemeteries, Pre-Christian Festivals and Place-Names: Perceptions from Senchas na Relec, Aided Nath Í ocus a Adnacol and Related Dindshenchas Tracts’. Oxford Cambridge Celtic Colloquium. St John’s College, Cambridge. May 2010.

‘Place-Names in a Hagiographical Tradition of St Brigit of Kildare: Analysis of Vita Prima and Bethu Brigte’. Second International Conference on Early Medieval Irish and Scottish Toponymy. Queens University Belfast. November 2009.

‘Island Place-Names in Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae’. Annual Conference of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. Falmouth. April 2009.