Professor Dauvit Broun
Director of Arts Lab / Professor of Scottish History
Dauvit Broun’s research focuses on medieval Scottish history, with a particular interest in developing approaches to non-literary sources that allows them to be used to investigate society and identity in new ways by
- placing technical methodologies (such as textual criticism, palaeography, codicology, diplomatic, and place-names) centre stage as ways of engaging with fundamental historical issues; such as the of origins of ‘national’ identities, the emergence of government, and our understanding of statehood;
- taking a leading role in the development of digital research tools as a means of increasing the potential of engaging with sources as a way of generating fresh perspectives and questions;
- engaging with other disciplines, such as archaeology, literature, linguistics, manuscript studies, digital humanities and ‘continental’ philosophy through the medium of history.
His research is also ‘teaching-led’, and seeks to facilitate the accessibility and practice of history as a discipline across all levels of education and expertise.
He was Principal Investigator of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded collaborative projects 'The Paradox of Medieval Scotland, 1093–1286' (2007–10), ‘The Breaking of Britain: cross-border society and Scottish independence 1216-1314’ (2010–13), ‘School curricular reform and the Scottish War of Independence’ (2013–14), and the Leverhulme funded project ‘The Transformation of Gaelic Scotland in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (2013–16). Most recently he is PI of the AHRC-funded ‘Models of Authority: Scottish charters and the emergence of government, 1100–1250’ (2014–17).
He is also convener of the Scottish History Society and co-editor of Boydell and Brewer’s Studies in Celtic History monograph series, and has been medieval editor of the New Edinburgh History of Scotland series, the Innes Review, and the pre-1603 editor of the Scottish Historical Review.
