Postgraduate research students

The ‘Quenis awne hand’: the literary agency of Mary Queen of Scots in shaping her own public image, 1567-1587

My doctoral research evaluates the cultural image of Mary Queen of Scots as presented in her own writing: her self-portrayal in poetry and correspondence in the period 1567-1587. It also contrast this self-fashioning against the images of Mary portrayed by others in published propaganda both for and against her in Britain in the same period. My analysis recentres the narrative of Mary in her own words and reveals, for the first time, the extent to which her enduring public image is based on her own agency as an author, and how much was outwardly projected onto her.

Journal Articles

Emily Hay, 'Canonicity, Caskets and Early Modern Scottish Women’s Writing: Recontextualising the Casket Sonnets, attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, alongside the poetry of Anne Lock and Elizabeth Melville', Scottish Literary Review, 15:2 (Winter 2023), 21-39.

Emily Hay, 'Opening the Casket: Transcending Boundaries of Interpretation in Mary Stuart's Casket Sonnets', eSharp, 29 (Autumn 2021), 32-45.

Book Reviews

Emily Hay, 'Scotland's Royal Women and European Literary Culture, 1424–1587 by Emily Wingfield (review)', Scottish Literary Review, 16:2 (Winter 2024), 221-223.

Web Articles

'Scots poetry collections for the 21st century', Scottish Book Trust (June 2024)

'Why teach Scots?', Scottish Book Trust (April 2024)

'Scots and bilingualism', Scottish Book Trust (April 2024)

'Scots in the classroom', Scottish Book Trust (January 2024)

Blog Posts

'Mutually Beneficial: PGR Internships in Higher Education', The Auditorium (October 2022)

'In pursuit of balance and inclusion: reflecting on the 2022 3 Minute Thesis competition', The Auditorium (April 2022)

‘Breaking the Fourth Wall: Working in Researcher Development as a PhD Student’, SGSAH Blog (February 2022)

'The Many (Wax) Faces of Mary Stuart', In Search of Mary Queen of Scots Blog (August 2020)

• Dr Theo Van Heijnsbergen
• Professor Rhona Brown
• Professor Steven Reid

Major Study Grants

• SGSAH AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership Scholarship, 2021-present, £70000.
• Joanna Baillie Scholarship for Research in Scottish Literature, 2020-2021, £5000.

Research Funding

• SGSAH Engagement Award, Summer 2024: French course in Lausanne, Switzerland; archival visit to Paris, France.
• Scottish History Endowments, July 2024: Attendance at 4th World Congress of Scottish Literature.
• SGSAH Engagement Award, Jan-July 2023: French course.
• CSCS Seedcorn Funding, Jan 2022: Attendance at Northern Early Modern Network conference.

Awards

• Neil Munro Medal for Highest Achieving Single Honours Student in Scottish Literature, 2020.
• Douglas Gifford Prize for Excellence in Scottish Literature, 2020.

• 'The ‘pruned vine’: Mary Queen of Scots and the Motherly Body at the Jacobean Court' at Renaissance Society of America conference, Boston, 19-22 March 2025.
• 'A Saint, a Skull and Two Queens of Scots: St Margaret’s Relics in Sixteenth-Century Scotland' at Scottish Medievalists conference, Croy, 5-6 January 2025.
• 'The "Quenis awne hand": self-presentation in the poetry and correspondence of Mary Queen of Scots, 1567-1587' at European Society for the Study of English (ESSE) conference, Université de Lausanne, 26-30 August 2024.
• 'The "Most Dangerous Women in Britain": Mary Queen of Scots, Nicola Sturgeon and Media Depictions of Women in Power' at 4th World Congress of Scottish Literatures (IASSL), University of Nottingham, 3-6 July 2024.
• 'Murderer, Mother, Martyr? Mary Queen of Scots and Writing the Self' at ICMRSLLC, St Andrews, 19-22 July 2023.
• 'Performing Power: Self-Presentation(s) in the Imprisonment Writings of Mary Queen of Scots' at Performing and Resisting Power in Early Modern Life, University of Leeds, 18-19 May 2023.
• ‘Reception Revisited: Re-reading Mary Queen of Scots Casket Sonnets’ at 3rd World Congress of Scottish Literatures (IASSL), Charles University - Prague, 22-26 June 2022.
• 'This PhD Life: Conference as a Site of Community' at 15th Annual LEADS Learning and Teaching Conference, University of Glasgow, 29 March 2022.
• 'Why PGR Internships Are Worth Doing' at This PhD Life, University of Glasgow, 26 January 2022.
• 'Protestant Print Politics and Catholic Conversions in Mary Queen of Scot’s Casket Sonnets' at Theories, Ideologies and Experiences in the Early Modern World (Northern Early Modern Network), University of Newcastle, 20-21 January 2022.

I have taught on the following undergraduate courses:

• Scottish Literature 1A (SCOTLIT1001): The Fantastic and the Real (24-25)
• Scottish Literature 1B (SCOTLIT1012): The Stories We Tell Ourselves (24-25)
• Scottish Literature 2A (SCOTLIT2001): Romance, Fable and Satire: The Rich Variety of Early Scottish Literature and Language (22-25)
• Scottish Literature 2B (SCOTLIT2002): From the Renaissance to Burns and the Vernacular Legacy (22-25)

In June 2024 I obtained Associate Fellowship of Recognising Excellence in Teaching (RET AF), aligned with the UK Professional Standard's Framework (UKPSF).

Public Engagement

‘Making a Myth: Mary Queen of Scots and Textual Identity’, Hunterian Museum ‘Friday Focus’ Talk in conjunction with The Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots exhibition, 20 Jan 2023.

'Seditious Sonnets and Groovy Togs', Time Travels, BBC Radio Scotland, 25 June 2022.

Affiliations

• Digital Curator, SGSAH, 2024-25.
• PGR Representative, International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures, 2024-25.
  • Session chairing at Fourth World Congress of Scottish Literatures, University of Nottingham, 3-6 July 2024.
• Research and Evaluation Intern, Scottish Book Trust, 2023-24.
  • Member of judging panel for Young Scots Writer o the Year 2024.
• PG Intern, Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, 2021-2022.
• PGR Events Intern, UofG Researcher Development, 2021-2022.
  • Lead organiser of 2022 Three Minute Thesis and Visualise Your Thesis competitions. 
• Committee Member, Symposium for Seventeenth Century Scottish Literatures, April 2022.
• Committee Member, Scot Lit 50 PGR Symposium, Feb 2022.