School of Critical Studies

Professor Pauline Mackay

  • Professor of Robert Burns Studies and Cultural Heritage (Scottish Literature)

telephone: 01413308176
email: Pauline.Mackay@glasgow.ac.uk

Room 409, Scottish Literature, 7 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QH

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432

Biography

Pauline Mackay is Professor of Robert Burns Studies and Cultural Heritage based in Scottish Literature. She is Director of the Queen's Anniversary Prize-winning Centre for Robert Burns Studies, Co-Director of Realities and Immersion Glasgow (the centre for research, teaching and innovation in immersive realities) and a resident of the University's Advanced Research Centre (ARC). Pauline is a member of the University Economic Development Board and in 2026 beame Co-Founder and CCO of the University Spin-out Infinite Muse.

Pauline's current research sits at the intersection of Scottish Literature, Cultural Memory, Material Culture, Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and Immersive Technologies. She explores how XR technologies can transform the ways in which literature and Cultural Heritage are experienced, interpreted, and shared with global audiences.

Pauline was Co-Lead on the £6.2m Innovate UK-funded Museums in the Metaverse project (2023-26), working with industry and Cultural Heritage partners to develop the WONDER platform and create next-generation virtual museum experiences. The project demonstrated how immersive technologies can widen access to collections, enhance visitor engagement, and generate new opportunities for heritage storytelling and economic impact. In 2026, Museums in the Metaverse won Gold for 'Visualisation' and Silver for 'Design for Good' at the Scottish Design Awards.

The project's success led to the creation of Infinite Muse, a University of Glasgow spin-out dedicated to transforming Cultural Heritage engagement through Immersive Technologies. Pauline is Co-Founder and CCO, leading strategic engagement with the Cultural Heritage sector and helping shape innovative approaches to digital interpretation and audience engagement.

Her current research on the Burns Supper, ICH, and Social XR examines how immersive technologies can support the transmission and understanding of living literary and cultural traditions in the 21st century. Through collaborations across academia, industry, and the cultural sector, she is helping to understand and inform the future of literary cultural heritage and immersive innovation.

Pauline is also Co-I and Co-Editor on the AHRC-funded project 'Editing Robert Burns's Poetry and Correspondence', and PI of 'The Burns Supper at 225 Years: Scottish Tradition, Global Reinvention' project. Her publications include 'Burns for Every Day of the Year' (2021; 2025). Since 2021, she has collaborated with Edify to develop 'Burns Beyond Reality', the world's first Robert Burns VR experience. In 2023, she received the English Association Fellows Award for her innovative use of XR and was named in the Saltire Society's 40 Under 40, recognising emerging leaders across Scotland's Creative Industries.

A regular keynote speaker and media contributor, she has appeared on BBC Radio 4's PM, BBC One's Countryfile, Reporting Scotland, and numerous national and international documentaries.

 

Research interests

Research Interests

  • Scottish Literature from the 15th Century to the 21st Century
  • Robert Burns (1759-1796)
  • Literature and Bawdry
  • Literature and Cultural Heritage
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage
  • Digital Humanities
  • Immersive Technologies
  • XR (Extended Reality)
  • VR (Virtual Reality)

 

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2021 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2007 | 2005
Number of items: 29.

2025

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432, Matthews, Alan, McDonnell, Neil ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7279-5277 and Verschuren, Lynn ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7401-6943 (2025) Learn to Build Your Own Museum in the Metaverse. In: Digital Heritage 2025, 8-13 Sept 2025, Siena, Italy,

2024

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2024) Burns and Bawdry. In: Carruthers, Gerard (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Robert Burns. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198846246 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198846246.001.0001)

Brown, Rhona ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0073-8227, Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Young, Ronnie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1345-8187 (2024) Formalising feeling: Robert Burns's punctuation. In: Bonapfel, Elizabeth M., Faulkner, Mark, Gutierrez, Jeffrey and Lennard, John (eds.) A History of Punctuation in English Literature. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

2023

Carruthers, Gerard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2023) A newly discovered manuscript: ‘Twa Neebor-Wives Upon a Time’. Burns Chronicle, 132(2), pp. 229-234. (doi: 10.3366/burns.2023.0089)

2021

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2021) Burns for Every Day of the Year. Black and White Publishing: Edinburgh. ISBN 9781785302985

2018

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2018) 'In Bawdy Policy Well-Gifted': Allan Ramsay, Bawdry and the Reformation of Manners. Scottish Literary Review, 10(1), pp. 73-94.

2017

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2017) Robert Burns. In: Oxford Bibliographies Online. Oxford University Press.

2016

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2016) “Low, tame, and loathsome ribaldry”: Bawdry in Romantic Scotland. European Romantic Review, 27(4), pp. 433-448. (doi: 10.1080/10509585.2016.1190086)

2015

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432, Henderson, Jonathan and McIntyre, Pamela (2015) ‘Epitaph' on Grizzel Grim: a newly-discovered manuscript in the hand of Robert Burns. Studies in Scottish Literature, 41(1), pp. 253-258.

2014

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2014) Timeline of the European reception of Robert Burns, 1796–2013. In: Pittock, Murray (ed.) The Reception of Robert Burns in Europe. Series: The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe. Bloomsbury Academic: London, xxiii-lxvii. ISBN 9781441170316

2013

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2013) Re-reading James Currie: Robert Burns's first editor. John Clare Society Journal(32), pp. 73-84.

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2013) The missing manuscript of Robert Burns's 'Patriarch' letter. Studies in Scottish Literature, 39(1), pp. 227-232.

2012

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2012) Objects of desire: Robert Burns the 'Man's Man' and material culture. Anglistik, 23(2), pp. 27-39.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2012) Highland Mary: objects and memories. Romanticism, 18(2), pp. 191-203. (doi: 10.3366/rom.2012.0084)

2011

Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Beyond text: Burns, Byron and their material cultural afterlife. Byron Journal, 39(2), pp. 149-162. (doi: 10.3828/bj.2011.18)

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Robert Burns beyond text: introducing a new resource for Robert Burns research. Burns Chronicle, Spring, pp. 42-43.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Twentieth century Burns scholars: theories, discoveries and 'The Merry Muses of Caledonia' (1799). Burns Chronicle, Spring, pp. 13-16.

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Enlightened religion and enlightened sex: Robert Burns and his French contemporaries. In: Pittock, M. (ed.) Robert Burns in Global Culture. Bucknell University Press: Lewisburg, PA, pp. 123-138. ISBN 9781611480306

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text. [Exhibitions]

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text. [Exhibitions]

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text: Treasure of the Month Exhibition. [Exhibitions]

Pittock, Murray ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X, Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Whatley, Christopher (2011) Robert Burns: Inventing Tradition and Securing Memory, 1796-1909. [Website]

2010

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2010) Robert Burns: bawdy language. Drouth(38),

2009

Carruthers, G. and Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (Eds.) (2009) The Fornicators Court by Robert Burns. Abbotsford Library Project Trust & The Faculty of Advocates: Edinburgh, UK. ISBN 9780956129109

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Introduction. In: Carruthers, G. and Gray, P.A. (eds.) The Fornicators Court by Robert Burns. Abbotsford Library Project Trust & The Faculty of Advocates: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 3-13. ISBN 9780956129109

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Robert Burns and gender: is a woman a woman for a’ that? In: Further from the frontiers: cross-currents in Irish and Scottish Studies. AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies: Aberdeen, pp. 33-40.

Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Sex and social commentary: Robert Burns's merry musing. In: Rodger, J. and Carruthers, G. (eds.) Fickle Man: Robert Burns in the 21st Century. Sandstone Press: Dingwall, UK, pp. 132-144. ISBN 9781905207275

2007

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2007) Prudes, pirates and bills of suspension: the correspondence of Burns and "Clarinda". Burns Chronicle, Autumn, pp. 9-13.

2005

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2005) Burns's "O Saw Ye My Maggie". Burns Chronicle, 2005(Spring), pp. 11-14.

This list was generated on Mon Aug 17 13:58:51 2026 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Conference Proceedings | Exhibitions | Website
Number of items: 29.

Articles

Carruthers, Gerard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2023) A newly discovered manuscript: ‘Twa Neebor-Wives Upon a Time’. Burns Chronicle, 132(2), pp. 229-234. (doi: 10.3366/burns.2023.0089)

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2018) 'In Bawdy Policy Well-Gifted': Allan Ramsay, Bawdry and the Reformation of Manners. Scottish Literary Review, 10(1), pp. 73-94.

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2016) “Low, tame, and loathsome ribaldry”: Bawdry in Romantic Scotland. European Romantic Review, 27(4), pp. 433-448. (doi: 10.1080/10509585.2016.1190086)

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432, Henderson, Jonathan and McIntyre, Pamela (2015) ‘Epitaph' on Grizzel Grim: a newly-discovered manuscript in the hand of Robert Burns. Studies in Scottish Literature, 41(1), pp. 253-258.

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2013) Re-reading James Currie: Robert Burns's first editor. John Clare Society Journal(32), pp. 73-84.

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2013) The missing manuscript of Robert Burns's 'Patriarch' letter. Studies in Scottish Literature, 39(1), pp. 227-232.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2012) Objects of desire: Robert Burns the 'Man's Man' and material culture. Anglistik, 23(2), pp. 27-39.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2012) Highland Mary: objects and memories. Romanticism, 18(2), pp. 191-203. (doi: 10.3366/rom.2012.0084)

Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X and Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Beyond text: Burns, Byron and their material cultural afterlife. Byron Journal, 39(2), pp. 149-162. (doi: 10.3828/bj.2011.18)

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Robert Burns beyond text: introducing a new resource for Robert Burns research. Burns Chronicle, Spring, pp. 42-43.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Twentieth century Burns scholars: theories, discoveries and 'The Merry Muses of Caledonia' (1799). Burns Chronicle, Spring, pp. 13-16.

Mackay, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2010) Robert Burns: bawdy language. Drouth(38),

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2007) Prudes, pirates and bills of suspension: the correspondence of Burns and "Clarinda". Burns Chronicle, Autumn, pp. 9-13.

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2005) Burns's "O Saw Ye My Maggie". Burns Chronicle, 2005(Spring), pp. 11-14.

Books

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2021) Burns for Every Day of the Year. Black and White Publishing: Edinburgh. ISBN 9781785302985

Book Sections

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2024) Burns and Bawdry. In: Carruthers, Gerard (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Robert Burns. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198846246 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198846246.001.0001)

Brown, Rhona ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0073-8227, Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Young, Ronnie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1345-8187 (2024) Formalising feeling: Robert Burns's punctuation. In: Bonapfel, Elizabeth M., Faulkner, Mark, Gutierrez, Jeffrey and Lennard, John (eds.) A History of Punctuation in English Literature. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. (Accepted for Publication)

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2017) Robert Burns. In: Oxford Bibliographies Online. Oxford University Press.

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2014) Timeline of the European reception of Robert Burns, 1796–2013. In: Pittock, Murray (ed.) The Reception of Robert Burns in Europe. Series: The Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe. Bloomsbury Academic: London, xxiii-lxvii. ISBN 9781441170316

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2011) Enlightened religion and enlightened sex: Robert Burns and his French contemporaries. In: Pittock, M. (ed.) Robert Burns in Global Culture. Bucknell University Press: Lewisburg, PA, pp. 123-138. ISBN 9781611480306

Carruthers, G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7188-9797 and Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Introduction. In: Carruthers, G. and Gray, P.A. (eds.) The Fornicators Court by Robert Burns. Abbotsford Library Project Trust & The Faculty of Advocates: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 3-13. ISBN 9780956129109

Gray, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Robert Burns and gender: is a woman a woman for a’ that? In: Further from the frontiers: cross-currents in Irish and Scottish Studies. AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies: Aberdeen, pp. 33-40.

Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (2009) Sex and social commentary: Robert Burns's merry musing. In: Rodger, J. and Carruthers, G. (eds.) Fickle Man: Robert Burns in the 21st Century. Sandstone Press: Dingwall, UK, pp. 132-144. ISBN 9781905207275

Edited Books

Carruthers, G. and Gray, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 (Eds.) (2009) The Fornicators Court by Robert Burns. Abbotsford Library Project Trust & The Faculty of Advocates: Edinburgh, UK. ISBN 9780956129109

Conference Proceedings

Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432, Matthews, Alan, McDonnell, Neil ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7279-5277 and Verschuren, Lynn ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7401-6943 (2025) Learn to Build Your Own Museum in the Metaverse. In: Digital Heritage 2025, 8-13 Sept 2025, Siena, Italy,

Exhibitions

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text. [Exhibitions]

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text. [Exhibitions]

Mackay, P.A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Pittock, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X (2011) Robert Burns Beyond Text: Treasure of the Month Exhibition. [Exhibitions]

Website

Pittock, Murray ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1567-998X, Mackay, Pauline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4585-3432 and Whatley, Christopher (2011) Robert Burns: Inventing Tradition and Securing Memory, 1796-1909. [Website]

This list was generated on Mon Aug 17 13:58:51 2026 BST.

Grants

  • 2015 - Principal Investigator (PI)

    Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland: Research Incentives
    Project: Eighteenth-Century Scottish Bawdry and Erotica
  • 2014 - Principal Investigator (PI)

    University of Glasgow Chancellor's Fund
    Project: Bawdry in Scottish Chapbooks

 

Supervision

  • Grimshaw, Hannah Elizabeth
    'Man's Dominion': Robert Burns and 21st Century Environmental Consciousness
  • Watson, John
    Literature and the Scottish Landscape: the Textual Phenomenology of Place

Teaching

  • Convenor:

Memorialising Scottish Culture & Literature - Scottish Literature (Hons)
Popular Literary Enlightenment, 1710-1790 - Scottish Literature (Hons)
Robert Burns Online (BOLD) - Scottish Literature (Hons)

  • Lecturer:

Level 1 Scottish Literature
Level 2 Scottish Literature
Robert Burns Online (Online/Distance Taught)
Robert Burns: Poems, Songs and Legacy (MOOC) - Online via Futurelearn
The Scottish Highland Clans: Origins, Decline and Transformation (MOOC) - Online via Futurelearn
Scottish Journeys - Scottish Literature (Hons)
Textual Editing - Scottish Literature (Hons)

*Pauline has previously taught on Level 3/Honours 'Irish & Scottish Literature', and the Honours English Literature Course, 'Romantic Literature from 1780-1840'.

Additional information

 

University Roles

  • Director: Centre for Robert Burns Studies (2022 - Present)
  • Founding Co-Director: Realities and Immersion Glasgow (2024 - Present)
  • Member: University Economic Development Board (2025 - Present)
  • Head of Subject: Scottish Literature (2021 - 2025)
  • Board Member: XR Project Board (2021 - Present)
  • Arts Representative: XR Operations Board (2021 - Present)
  • Postgraduate Convenor: School of Critical Studies (2017-2019)
  • Academic Co-Lead: External Collaboration Workstream, Project Development Board, College of Arts (2017 - 2019)
  • Placements Officer: College of Arts (2014 - 2017)

External Roles

  • Treasurer: International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures - IASSL (2014 - Present)
  • Chair: Burns Scotland - the National Burns Collections held in partnership (2021 - 2025)
  • Consultant: Scottish Government, Scottish Winter Festivals (2014 - 2022)