Recordings of previous lectures

Islands Matter Webinar 5 with Professor Owe Ronström from the Gotland campus of Uppsala University 

Islands Matter Webinar 4 with Professor Chik Collins, Rector of the University of the Faroe Islands

Dr Alison Cathcart 'They ‘offered to give what they do not even hope to gain’: Ireland, Orkney and Shetland, and kingship in the reign of James V'

Islands Matter Webinar 3 with Professor Des Thompson ‘Where next for the COPs – tackling the climate and biodiversity crises.’  

Islands Matter Webinar 2 with Dr Laurie Brinklow from the Institute for Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island

Islands Matter Webinar 1 James Ellsmoor of Island Innovation

Steve Murdoch: War and Peace: Scotland and Norway as Friends and Foes, 1589-1713

Dr Rebecca Ford: Words & Waves: Power of Stories, Community & Renewable Energy in Orkney

'Women and men of the Viking Age' - an inaugural lecture from Professor Alex Sanmark

Michèle Hayeur Smith: The Valkyries' Loom

The interim results of recent excavations at an important, though neglected small hill fort controlling the strategic terrestrial route along the River Tay connecting the highlands and lowlands. Comprising a central oval enclosure with at least two very different enclosures on lower terraces, the site had for decades been lost under thick vegetation. As a result, the fort had seen only minimal survey prior to this project, which has investigated all three enclosures to establish their date and function, and which was delivered as a programme of community archaeology by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, Dunkeld and Birnam Historical Society, and AOC Archaeology, supported by the Heritage Fund, The Gannochy Trust and SSE. The results confirm high status, early medieval activity across the site, and suggest a well-connected royal power centre, similar to the forts at Dundurn, Dunadd or Clatchard Craig.

Nicholas Evans will present a paper that will deepen and extend the discussion he presented briefly in last year’s workshop, considering power structures in Pictland in an international context, drawing on research undertaken for the Leverhulme Trust funded project ‘Comparative Kingship: the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland’ led by Professor Gordon Noble.

In this paper Evans will consider the textual evidence, including later evidence from post-1100 Scotland, for early medieval Pictish power structures, analysing how this differs from or is similar to other Insular kingdoms, in particular, Ireland and Dál Riata. He will also discuss some initial results from the place-name and territorial reconstruction phase of the ‘Comparative Kingship’ project, in relation to how we can identify how local communities underpinned larger regional and regnal power structures.

Dr Louisa Campbell

Rediscovering the Antonine Wall Distance Stones

Dr Alex Woolf

Kings of Places & Kings of People: the case of Alt Clut

Dr Veerle Van den Eynden

People and Plants in Scotland: A contemporary view

Prof Stefan Brink

What’s in a Name Why study Onomastics for the sake of Old Norse Mythology

Dr Colleen Batey: The role of the Jarlshof Site in Norse Archaeology

The World of Orcadian Runecarvers, by Dr Andrea Freund

The Northern Isles of Scotland during the 16th century: archaeological perspectives on proto-global trade connections by Dr Natascha Mehler

David Griffiths Public Seminar: Birsay and Skaill: archaeological landscapes of Orkney

'Nowhere else I’d rather be: A personal view of the archaeology of Orkney and why it is special'.by Caroline Wickham Jones, Visiting Fellow of INS:

Columba, Nessie and the Deadly Loathsome Little Creatures

Escape from the Coasts - The Great Escape from Estonia and the Shetland Bus

The talk was given in Lerwick on May 6th 2017. The event was a joint project involving the Centre for Nordic Studies UHI and the Estonian War Museum.

Hardscrabble Heritage: the ruined blackhouse and crofting landscape as heritage from below - Iain Robertson

Shetland Bus Talk

This talk was originally given at the Escape from the Coasts event on May 6th 2017. This was joint event held by the Centre for Nordic Studies UHI and the Estonian War Museum, at the Shetland Museum and Archives. 75 people attended.

Dr Victoria Whitworth from the UHI Centre for Nordic Studies talked to us about using her research in creative writing

Waulking in the sea: finishing Shetland’s annual vadmal payment - Carol Christiansen

The 2nd St Magnus Conference was a multi-disciplinary international conference that took place on the Shetland Islands in April 2014 entitled 'The Northern Isles and the Sea'.

The supernatural seascapes of Orkney and Shetland - Erin Farley

The 2nd St Magnus Conference was a multi-disciplinary international conference that took place on the Shetland Islands in April 2014 entitled 'The Northern Isles and the Sea'

Island identities and the centrality of the peripheral - Charlotta Hillerdal

The 2nd St Magnus Conference was a multi-disciplinary international conference that took place on the Shetland Islands in April 2014 entitled 'The Northern Isles and the Sea'

In Aboot da Night wi da Erasmusons: One Family’s Beliefs and Lore - Jenny Murray

The 2nd St Magnus Conference was a multi-disciplinary international conference in Shetland in April 2014 entitled 'The Northern Isles and the Sea'