Past Events
2012
The 'Kilmarnock Edition' Symposium
On Friday 9th October 2012, the Centre for Robert Burns Studies hosted its 'Kilmarnock Edition' Symposium. This symposium commemorated Professor Craig Sharp's generous gift of a Kilmarnock Edition (1786) to the Centre, and explored the publication and reception history of Robert Burns's first book. At the close of the event, Professor Sharp made a further gift to the Centre: a beautifully bound, nineteenth-century miniature edition of Burns's Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.
The audience heard a variety of papers by Burns experts: to see more, click on the Kilmarnock Edition programme. There was also a performance by Bill Adair of some of Burns's earliest songs. The Centre is delighted to announce that these are available on the University of Glasgow's iTunesU.
To hear a series of talks by staff and colleagues of the Centre, please click here.
To hear some of Burns's songs performed by Bill Adair, please click here.
We hope you enjoy listening!
2012 Annual Conference: 'Artefact'
On Saturday 14th January 2012, the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, in collaboration with the Distributed National Burns Collection, hosted the 2012 Robert Burns conference: 'Artefact'.
The audience were shown a host of Burns-related treasures by Elinor Clark (South Ayrshire Council), Christopher Fryer (Dumfries and Galloway Museum) and Amy Miller (NTS Robert Burns Birthplace Museum) as part of a host of presentations entitled 'Amaz'd and Curious: Some unknown and puzzling Burns objects from various collections'. Music for the occasion was provided by Kirsten Easdale (Vocals) and Gregor Lowrey (Accordion), and the diverse conference programme included papers from the following distinguished speakers:
Gavin Sprott, 'Burns an Farming Life'
Thomas Keith, 'Mauchline Ware: Taking Home a Piece of the Poet'
Gordon Ashley, 'The 250th - Is it all down-hill from here on?'
Clark McGinn, 'Burns and the Banker'
John Burnett, 'The Social Worlds of Burnsiana'
Dr Bill Zachs, 'The Private Collector'
Nat Edwards, 'The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum'
Professor Murdo Macdonald, 'Rethinking Burns and Art'
Following the success of the Burns Conference 2012, we look forward to 2013!
2010-2011
As you can see below, we had a very busy and rewarding 2009. As a result of all this activity, we kept rather quiet in 2010! However, a number of exiting events took place in Winter 2010-2011. The Centre for Robert Burns Studies co-organised a conference on Byron and Burns in Manchester in December and hosted our own 1-day conference called 'Burns and Beyond' here at the University of Glasgow in January 2011. Then later in the Spring of 2011 our Glasgow-based Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded 'Robert Burns Beyond Text' project project coordinated a fascinating conference called 'The Object of Poetry', held at the University of Dundee.
A number of publications associated with members of our Centre for Robert Burns Studies appeared in 2009-2010 and these are also listed on the website.
The Centre for Robert Burns Studies secured funding from the University's Chancellor's Fund to record James MacMillan's 'Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots' with the Haydn Trio Eistenstadt and singers Lorna Anderson and Jamie MacDougall. This recording was made in Eisenstadt, Austria in January 2010.
And finally, in January 2011 we received news of the major AHRC research grant awarded for our major research project, 'Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century', to produce the new Oxford University Press edition of the works of Robert Burns.
2009
15 - 17 January 2009 
Marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, the newly established Centre for Robert Burns Studies hosted a three-day conference celebrating all aspects of Burns's life and works.
The conference took place in the prestigious surroundings of Glasgow University from Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 January 2009.
It was opened by Fiona Hyslop, MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and the University's Principal Sir Muir Russell.
The programme featured seven plenary papers delivered by distinguished academics over the three days:
Leith Davis, (Simon Fraser University) Transatlantic Burns
Jon Mee (University of Warwick) Why the English had to invent Robert Burns
G Ross Roy (University of Columbia, South Carolina) This presentation will be on film and screened.
Susan Manning (University of Edinburgh) ‘Ae spark o’ Nature’s Fire’: Was Robert Burns a Transcendental Philosopher?’
Fiona Stafford (University of Oxford) Robert Burns Addresses
Chris Whatley (University of Dundee) "Pale Scotia's way": Memorialising Burns in Victorian Scotland
Robert Crawford (University of St Andrews) Burns and the Mind of Europe
A full programme of events, and conference information is available in PDF format: Full Conference Programme and Information
Over the three days in January, 200 Robert Burns academics and enthusiasts gathered for this event, many of whom presented papers covering a diverse range of topics associated with Robert Burns and discussing these issues across coffee breaks, lunch and dinner. A team of postgraduate student helpers from the Department of Scottish Literature helped direct people to the suite of rooms used for sessions and modelled the Centre's newly-designed t-shirt. The conference was a real team effort across the University, involving Conference and Visitor Services, Corporate Communications, Development and Alumni and Archives.
Picture Gallery of the opening and of coffee breaks
Special Partnership - CRBS and Itchy Coo Education: Picture Gallery 
The Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow was delighted to be working with Itchy Coo Education, the award winning promoters and publishers in Scots. A series of national schools and colleges competitions for students aged from reception class to highers (4 to 18), was in the Autumn term of 2008 and winners were announced at a specially organised event during the Conference, with competitions judged and prizes presented by Andrew Wolffe, illustrator, designer and publisher, Janice Forsyth, BBC Scotland broadcaster and Liz Lochhead, writer and formerly Writer in Residence at the Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow.
Evening Events
Thursday 15 January - Songs and Supper: Picture Gallery
Complementing the full academic programme, there were several special events continuing the theme of celebration and these were also open to the general public.
This event, sponsored by the Royal Mail, was held in the main hall of Oran Mor and provided an alternative hot supper for over 100 people. The Centre was thrilled to be able to invite one of Scotland's foremost traditional singers, Sheena Wellington, to perform a selection of Burns's less often heard bawdy songs from 'The Merry Muses', which she regaled with characteristic humour and skill. Before this, the traditional band of 'gangrel bodies', Stramash, gave a spirited rendition of Burns's cantata Love and Liberty, also known as 'The Jolly Beggars'. The Royal Mail was happy to publicise its newly created Robert Burns stamps celebrating the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth.
Friday 16 January - World Premiere Performance: Picture Gallery
On the evening of Friday 16th January, in the splendid surroundings of the Bute Hall, the Centre hosted the world premiere of 'Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots', written by Scotland's leading composer, James MacMillan. This piece was commissioned by the Centre for Robert Burns Studies for the 'Robert Burns 1759 to 2009' conference at the University of Glasgow, and was made possible by funding from the Chancellor’s Fund, University of Glasgow. The world premiere performance was given by the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, and singers Lorna Anderson and Jamie MacDougall, and included an additional programme of Burns songs with arrangements by Haydn.
In the afternoon of Friday 16th January, the Conference marked the completion of the Trio's recording of the complete Haydn folk songs with Lorna and Jamie on the Brilliant Classics label. This project, involving Professor Marjorie Rycroft of the Department of Music at the University of Glasgow and both Dr Kirsteen McCue (Scottish Literature) and Dr Warwick Edwards (Music), has been connected to a larger editing project relating to Haydn's songs for the Scottish publisher, George Thomson. The complete set of recordings runs to 19 CDs with a CD-ROM full of information about these wonderful settings. The event to mark the culmination of this project was hosted by the University's Chancellor, Sir Kenneth Calman. The Trio and singers are continuing to celebrate this project by giving a series of concerts at the new arts centre, King's Place, near London's King's Cross, in September of this year. Lectures will be given by both Professor Rycroft and Dr McCue.
Saturday 17 January - An Alternative Burns Supper with Karen Dunbar: Picture Gallery
The conference rounded off on Saturday evening with an Alternative Burns Supper, organised by the University of Glasgow's Development and Alumni department, again in the distinguished setting of the Bute Hall. Hosted by Dr Kirsteen McCue, this event featured an unforgettable Immortal Memory given by one of Scotland's funniest women, Karen Dunbar, who gave an action packed recitation of Burns's masterpiece, 'Tam o' Shanter'. Scottish Literature graduate, Nicole Irvine, impressed the 140 guests with a fabulous rendition of Burns's 'Address to the Haggis' and ceilidh band Kilter rounded off the evening, and the Conference, by leading everyone in some spirited Scottish dancing.
Academics from the Centre for Robert Burns Studies also presented papers as part of a series of lectures held by the Mitchell library between April and October 2009.
The University's international students also managed to break the world record of singing 'Auld Lang Syne' simultaneously in some 41 languages on 30 November in the University of Glasgow's Bute Hall to mark the close of the 'Year of Homecoming' and you can see how they did this in You Tube. Many thanks indeed to Lesley Richmond at the Glasgow University Archives for masterminding this. We supplied her with as many translations as we were able to source!
Further international events of academic interest in Robert Burns during his 250th anniversary year took place all over the world, and more information can be found at the Global Burns Network.
2007
Dr. Fiona Stafford of the University of Oxford gave the Centre's inaugural lecture on 21 July 2007, 'A Centre in the Breast: Robert Burns and Happiness'. It was the first of four major lectures in the first year of the Centre's life. 
Other lectures given in the Centre's first year were given by Dr. Kenneth Simpson (Honorary Professor of Burns Studies in the Centre), Professor Murray Pittock (Bradley Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow) and Professor R.D.S. Jack (formerly University of Edinburgh).