School of Humanities / Sgoil nan Daonnachdan

Interlace panel from the Govan sarcophagus, carved for the bones of St Constantine, c. 900 AD

Research

The School of Humanities is the most disciplinarily diverse School in the University and has a commitment to disciplinary rigour, continuity and fostering interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research opportunities. Across the School subjects at least 85% of research is recognised internationally in terms of its originality, significance and rigour.

We recognise the value of interdisciplinarity and collaborative programmes of research, but also the importance of highly individual research projects. The individual researcher, the collaborative team, and shades between, are all legitimate modes of research supported by the School. The School is similarly committed to fostering interdisciplinary synergies: collaboration across the disciplines of the School, within the College of Arts, and beyond.

The School and wider College of Arts has a suite of research groupings, networks, and centres that are by their very nature interdisciplinary with well-established connections across the University and to external organisations in the commercial, public and third sectors.

  • Scottish Studies Global is an area with a College-wide remit and a natural home in the School of Humanities. We host the highest concentration of researchers working on Scottish subjects and research in a number of areas of Scottish Studies is a major source of research council grant income and research council-funded and international research students over the past decade, in particular Japanese and American researchers. This theme is also includes the activities of the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies and the Centre for Robert Burns Studies.
  • Digital Humanities is a major area of research in the School, with its recognised strength in HATII and associated practice in all our other disciplines. The AHRC call on the digital humanities is a significant opportunity to development of new research themes and cross-dissemination of existing work which will add to the creation, management, and manipulation of the information objects we work with.
  • Medical Humanities is a field with a distinguished history within the School through the Centre for the History of Medicine which collaborates closely with the new College of Arts Centre of Medical Humanities to respond to new research calls. With members of the School working in areas as wide-ranging as forensics, imaging, the history of specimen collections and research into aspects of death and dying, this is a diverse and active research theme.
  • Global Security is represented by History’s East Asian Security proposals, whilst HATII’s creation of links with the University of  Tokyo in the area of knowledge and information management are also key developments. Similarly, work on data security, digital forensics and cyber-warfare have great relevance to this theme. Philosophy’s collaborative work in Chinese ethical studies and religious pluralism and Eastern philosophy are additional research strengths and both the Scottish Centre for War Studies and the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology continue to develop their high-profile international agendas.
  • Enlightenment and Engagement is an area of cross-School interest, with the close association of ‘public humanities’ with museums, archives and libraries placing us in pole position within the College. Examples include existing work on collections and collecting, ethics, networks, the classical tradition, and close engagement with schools and external organisations.
  • Landscape and the Environment is recognised as an area where this School already makes an impact. Examples of our contributions include the policy-driving work of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, and collaboration within the newly EU-funded European-wide Archaeolandscapes project. A crucial area within this context is the sustainability of information and the long-term curation and preservation of data, an area in which HATII and others within the School are world-leaders. For example, the interuniversity programme Soillse is designed to inform public policy for the future maintenance and revitalisation of Gaelic language and culture.
  • Imagination and Society is a theme with cross-School interest, ranging from History’s multi-dimensional approach to the medieval origins of national histories, for example in the Paradox of Medieval Scotland with Celtic & Gaelic, to Classics’ work in the areas of comedy and dialogue and Philosophy’s connections with Theology.

The School aims to develop and expand established strengths in Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Exchange and our relationships with government and non-governmental organisations, building on the success of Celtic & Gaelic’s national projects, Archaeology's work within the historic environment, and the contributions to public policy and the third sector by HATII and Celtic & Gaelic.

The School has a wide range of externally-funded current research projects, which employ several 17 full-time and part-time researchers: