Profile
- PhD in Archaeology and History, University of
Glasgow, 2009
- MPhil in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture,
University of Oslo, 2004
- MA (Hons) in Mediaeval History, University of
St Andrews, 2001
I joined the department in 2013, having
previously held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the
University of Aberdeen from 2010 to 2013.
My research focuses on the medieval Church’s
interaction with the laity, through parishes, church buildings,
bishops and the clergy in Scotland, England and Norway. My PhD
studied the clergy and church buildings of the late medieval
Hebrides through examining the identities of the clergy and the
provision of parish churches and chapels in relation to lay
settlement. My postdoctoral project examined local communities’
religious practices in north-western medieval Europe through a
study of chapels and open-air devotional sites in five dioceses:
Sodor and Galloway in Scotland, York and Exeter in England and
Bergen in Norway. I have been assessing how chapels can be defined
and categorised according to function and use. I argue that there
were several types of chapels which were the focus of different
religious practices and might be used by varying groups of people.
I am currently writing up this research for a monograph.