Professor Donna Heddle, FHEA, FSAScot, FRSA, FRSE
Professor of Northern Heritage
杏吧原创 Head of Research Environment & Culture
Director of Institute for Northern Studies
Head of Cultural Heritage
Interim Dean of Research and Innovation
Institute for Northern Studies
University of the Highlands and Islands
Scott's House, Grainshore Road,
Kirkwall
Orkney
KW15 1FLM
e: Email
d: +44 (0)1856 569247
Biography
Professor Donna Heddle is Director of the 杏吧原创 Institute for Northern Studies. She has won awards for course development and design. Her research interests are Scottish and Northern Isles cultural history, Renaissance language and literature, and cultural tourism. She has led and is currently leading several national and international research and training projects involving cultural tourism, including a project in Vanuatu. Donna led the very successful 2008, 2014 and 2021 Research Excellence Framework submissions from 杏吧原创 in Area Studies, which in 2021 came 1st in Scotland overall and 1st equal in the UK for research impact. She was awarded a Personal Chair by 杏吧原创 in June 2013 and was Chair of the 杏吧原创 Tourism Group from 2017 to 2022.
Awards
- David Masson Scholarship, University of Edinburgh (1993 and again in 1994)
- Faculty Teaching Fellowship, University of Edinburgh (1994)
- SCRAN award for online VLE and module development (2002-3)
- Times Higher Education Supplement Award for Most Imaginative Use of Distance Learning (2005)
Professional and statutory body memberships:
- Member of Institute of Teaching and Learning 2003
- Fellowship of Higher Education Academy 2007
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2016
- Fellow, Royal Society of Arts 2018
Research interests
Prof. Heddle’s main research interests are the creation of new paradigms in Scottish and Northern isles studies, small island studies, Scottish language and literature in a European context, and Scottish cultural history. She is the author of a number of publications in these areas and is currently leading several national and international research and cultural tourism projects involving the North Atlantic rim and the South Pacific. She is at present working on Scots-Nordic balladic synergies; the underpinning philosophy of Northern Studies; the Huguenot influence of Du Bartas on the poetry of the Scots Court under James VI; aspects of cultural tourism, and geophysical and metaphysical correlations in historical depictions of Orkney. She is also working on a history of Highlands and Islands literature. She is particularly passionate about locative research - in the communities, by the communities, for the communities.

Academic Responsibilities
Academic Responsibilities
Prof Heddle is Programme Leader for MLitt Scottish Heritage.
She is Module Leader for the following MLitt modules:
- Scotland鈥檚 Story I: Language, Literature and Landscape
- Writers and Place
- A Tour of the Highlands
- Dissertation module for all MLitts.
She is Module LEader for the following BA (Hons) Culture and Heritage modules:
- Golden Mead and Burning Hearts
- Highland Journeys
- Interdisciplinary Project
- Dissertation (Culture and Heritage)
杏吧原创 Committee memberships:
- Academic Council
- Arts, Humanities and Business FBOS member
- Humanities and Gaelic SNC member
- Orkney College Senior Staff Committee and LTQC
- Convenor of the 杏吧原创 Research School in Language, Culture and Heritage 2004
- 杏吧原创 Research Committee Vice Chair 2004-9
- 杏吧原创 Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee
- 杏吧原创 Arctic Strategy Group
- REF Managers Group
- Staff working group, 杏吧原创 Programme Board
External Memberships
External Memberships
- AHRC, Leverhulme and British Academy project reviewer
- Board member of the Scottish Museums Council (later Museums Galleries Scotland) 2004-10
- Board member of Museums Galleries Scotland 2013-
- Secretary (2010) and Chair (2011) of the MLA International Scottish Studies group
- Member of the Universities Council for Modern Languages (Scotland)
- Member of LLAS Scottish Advisory Board
- 杏吧原创 catalyst, panel D, Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
- Member of the Universities Committee for Scottish Literature
- Adviser to the Education and Culture Committee, Scottish Government
- Member of the Cross parliamentary Working Group on Nordic Countries
- Adviser and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary on Scots and Nordic lexis
- Peer reviewer and reviewer for Scottish Historical Review, Scottish Language, Weather, and Language and Intercultural Communication
- Guest editor for Journal of the North Atlantic
- Publications Board member, Brepols North Atlantic World series
- Trustee, Scottish International Education Trust
- Saltire Book Award judge
- Editorial assistant of the literary magazine Cencrastus 1993-9
Publications
Publications
Scholarly edition
John Stewart of Baldynneis鈥 Roland Furious; A Scots Poem in its European Context, BRILL Intellectual History Series, 2007.
Edited volume
Northern Heritage, 杏吧原创 Press, Inverness, 2006
Articles
2020 "Bolstering B贸lsta冒ir: Norse placenames in Lewis in context", in Between Islands, ed. by A Macdonald, Acair, pp 58-68.
"Upon the Utmost Corners of the Warld: Orkney in Early Maps and Literature", in Plumb, Sanmark and Heddle (eds.), Imagining the North from Ancient Times to the Present Day, ed. by Oisin Plumb, Alexandra Sanmark, and Donna Heddle, Brepols, pp 15-35
2019 "Norse Noir: Sagas and Sources", in Vikings and the Vikings: The Norse World(s) of the History Channel Series, ed. by Paul Hardwick and Kate Lister, Jefferson: McFarland, pp 25-46.
鈥淛ohn Stewart of Baldynneis: The Scots Renaissance Missing Link?鈥, European Journal of English Studies, 18, 1, p60-72 12p
鈥淎lexander Montgomerie鈥 The Literary Encyclopedia, in press
鈥淪o, no sweet talk, then? : the love poetry of Earl Rognvald Kali Kolsson鈥, Rognvald 850 book edited by Donna Heddle in press
鈥淪tormy Crossings? : Scots- Scandinavian balladic synergies鈥, The Journal of the North Atlantic (JONA), Special Volume 5, Proceedings from the 2011 St Magnus Conference Kirkwall, Orkney, forthcoming, 2013
鈥'The North Wind Doth Blow': a new agenda for Northern Scottish Studies鈥. Anglistik: Journal of International English Studies 23. 2. 12,
鈥淣orse Force: The Centre for Nordic Studies at 杏吧原创鈥, Orkney Antiquarian Journal, October 2012
鈥淭he Norse element in the Orkney dialect鈥 in Millar, Robert McColl (ed.) 2010. Northern Lights, Northern Words. Selected Papers from the FRLSU Conference, Kirkwall 2009
鈥淕limpsing your true love at Halloween鈥, Mimir鈥檚 Well: Notes from Nordic Studies column, The Orcadian, October 2010
鈥淭he Writers鈥 War: Fortress Orkney鈥, Fortress Orkney website 2010
鈥淰oices of the West鈥 , Northwords Now, Spring issue 2009
鈥淭he sociocultural effects of aviation in the Northern Isles鈥, chapter, Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, vol. 8, Birlinn Books, 2009
鈥淭he Language of the Gutters?鈥, Living The Fishing, 杏吧原创 Press, Inverness, 2007
鈥淐louston - the Writer of Fiction鈥, chapter in J. Storer Clouston, The Spy in Black, ed. M. MacDonald, AOP, 2007
"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2007
"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2007
"". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 May 2007
鈥淔acets of Death and Life鈥, a review of the work of Iain Crichton Smith and Edwin Morgan, Cencrastus 51, pp 43-44
6th International DIVERSE conference proceedings, Multimedia blended network learning: A Culture Studies case study, Glasgow Caledonian University 2006
鈥淭he History of the Northern Periphery鈥, chapter in Northern Heritage, 杏吧原创 Press, Inverness 2006
鈥淭he aims of the new Centre for Nordic Studies鈥, Orkney Heritage Society Newsletter2005
鈥淥n the borders of this massive round鈥, Sib Folk News 32, 2004
鈥淛ohn Stewart of Baldynneis: ane maist perfyt prentes鈥, chapter in Odd Alliances: Scottish Studies in European contexts, ed. Neil McMillan and Kirsten Stirling, Cruithne Press, Glasgow, 1999.
Selected Reviews:
2013
Scandinavian Scotland - Twenty Years After: The Proceedings of a Day Conference held on 19 February 2007.
Edited by Alex Woolf. Pp. 168.
ISBN: 9780951257371.
St John's House Papers No. 12: St Andrews, 2009. 拢14.00. Scottish Historical Review. Volume 92, Page 148-149 DOI 10.3366/shr.2013.0142, ISSN 0036-9241, Available Online April 2013 .
SCOTLIT, issue 42 - 2012
Skald: Viking Poems, Ian Crockatt Koo Press 2009
Scottish Historical Review, Volume 89 (1): 98, Edinburgh University Press - April 2010
St. Magn煤s of Orkney: A Scandinavian Martyr-cult in Context. By Haki Antonsson. Pp. viii, 272. ISBN: 9789004155800. Leiden: Brill Academic Press, 2007.
The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland. By Graeme Davis. Pp. xi, 132. ISBN: 9781904607755. Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007.
Blaeu's Orkneys and Schetland: The Orkneys and Schetland in Blaeu's Atlas of 1654. Edited by James M. Irvine. Pp. 64. ISBN: 9780954457129. Ashtead: James M. Irvine, 2006.
Scottish Studies Review Autumn 2005, Review of Benjamin Cook and Peter
Todd (eds), Subjects and Sequences: Margaret Tait Reader (London: Lux, 2004).
Selected Talks & Conferences
Selected Talks & Conferences
Keynote speaker
"Northern Heterotopias"
4th Annual Aboriginal and Northern Studies Conference, University College of the North,
4-5 June 2009, The Pas, Manitoba, Canada
鈥淭he Lost Glen: Neil Gunn and Cultural Space鈥
Light in the North: Neil Gunn Conference, Dunbeath Trust, 10 November 2007, Dunbeath, Caithness
Invited speaker
鈥淭he Grand March: Marriage Customs in the Northern Isles鈥 British Festival of Science, University of Aberdeen, 9th September 2012
鈥淭he placenames of Caithness and the application of bilingual policies鈥 Highland Council, 31st January 2012
鈥淲here is Orkney? Orkney in its early physical and metaphysical context鈥, The First Congress of the World Literature Association, Beijing 30 June- 3 July 2011 Peking University, in association with World Literature Association
"Landscape and Identity in Communion", School of Landscape Architecture,Edinburgh College of Art, 22nd Sept 2010.
鈥淟iving the Fishing?: the Scots Herring Girls鈥 Between Leith and Lerwick: Academic workshop, University of Edinburgh, 6th March 2010, Edinburgh, sponsored by the Royal Society of Edinburgh
鈥淧lacenames and Poetry鈥 Rhythm and Rhyme workshop, Year o Orkney Dialect, Orkney Heritage Society, February 2010, Orkney
鈥淭he North wind doth blow 鈥.鈥 A New Cultural Agenda for the Northern Isles鈥 Royal Society of Edinburgh Conference: The Life and Culture of the Highlands, September 2009 RSE, Edinburgh
鈥淭he Centre for Nordic Studies; a new integrative research concept鈥 Worldwide Universities Network Nordic Gathering, July 2009, University of Sheffield
鈥淪upporting our international future: cross-sector partnerships to promote languages in Scotland鈥, Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World 1st December 2008, University of Edinburgh
鈥淣ew Maps, New Communities鈥 panel speaker Skills Building for the Future Legacy Conference, 14th November 2008. Culloden Visitor Centre
鈥淭he language of the Gutters?鈥 Travels and Travails of the Scots Herring Girls Conference, June 2007, SMO
"The languages of the Highlands and Islands and language revival policy" Cross Parliamentary committee on language and culture, 3rd October 2006, Holyrood,
鈥淢ultimedia blended network learning: a Culture Studies case study鈥 6th International DIVERSE conference, Glasgow Caledonian University, 5th-7th July 2006
鈥淐lan Gunn: the origins in the North and the Diaspora in the south鈥 International Clan Gunn Gathering, April 2003, Orkney
Conferences organised
Women鈥檚 History Network Conference, May 2013, Orkney
9th Triennial International Conference of Forum for Study of the Languages of Scotland and Ulster, 21-25 July 2009, Orkney College
Looking at Shetland Outside the Box: The Meeting of Nations and the Creation of Shetland Culture 7th - 10th May 2009, Shetland Museum and Archives. Organisers: CNS and Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen
Rognvald 850 - a commemoration of the death of Earl Rognvald, Rognvald 850 committee, 19th September 2008, Orkney College
Voices of the West Minority Languages Conference I and II in association with the Minority Languages Song for Europe competition, 21st June 2008 and 20th June 2009, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness.
Society for Northern Studies annual conference, April 2004, Orkney College
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Annual Conference, May 2003, Orkney College
Conferences chaired
Old Maps and New - Where Culture and Social Enterprise Meet, Centre for Health Science, Raigmore, 12th-13th November 2010 - proceedings on web. Major conference involving the heads of cultural agencies across Scotland. Was presented jointly by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Creative Scotland.
Rognvald 850- a commemoration of the death of Earl Rognvald, 19th September 2008, Orkney College
Voices of the West Minority Languages Conference in association with the Minority Languages Song for Europe competition, 21st June 2008 and 20th June 2009, Eden Court Theatre, Inverness. This went out on BBC Alba in 2009 and was attended by Mike Russell, Minister for Culture at the time, who used the occasion for a press release on Scots.
Society for Northern Studies conference, April 2004, Orkney College
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Annual Conference, May 2003, Orkney College
Conference sessions chaired and organised
Modern Language Association Convention, 鈥淓xploring Scots鈥, Seattle, 5-8 January 2012
Inaugural St Magnus Conference, 杏吧原创 鈥淭he Norse Isles?鈥 Orkney, 14-15 April 2011
The Twelfth International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Language and Literature 鈥淣orse Literature鈥 University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh July 2008
Modern Language Association Convention, MLA 鈥淧atterns in Time: The Scottish Nordic Synergy鈥 Chicago, December 2007
Public Lectures
鈥淗ere sails the sea-brave鈥: The Vikings as Navigators, Museum nan Eilean online series , 19th November 2020
鈥淭he Declaration of Arbroath: the most important document in Scottish history?鈥 6th April 2020. Across the USA by Zoom etc. And again in December 2020
鈥淏olstering B贸lsta冒ir: Norse placenames in Lewis in context鈥 Faclan festival, Stornoway 31st October 2019
Grand Tour of Orkney Lecture Tour (10 dates and venues) December 2015- February 2016.
Hakon Hakonsson Memorial Lecture Viking Festival, Largs, 3rd September 2015
Inaugural Professorial lecture 鈥淔rom the Fury of the Norsemen, good Lord, deliver us?鈥 杏吧原创 Inverness and by VC, November 2013
Northern Horizons lecture 鈥淐aithness: The Well at the World鈥檚 End鈥 Wick, 25 June 2013
Timespan public lecture 鈥樷淔rom the fury of the Norsemen, good Lord, deliver us?鈥; re evaluating the Norse legacy in Northern Scotland鈥 Timespan, Helmsdale 21st June 2012
Celtic Connections 杏吧原创 Inaugural Lecture 鈥淪elkies, shapeshifters, and sex: Scots ballads and the supernatural鈥, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow 1st February 2012
CNS Public Lecture 鈥淰iking Navigators鈥 21st July 2011 in Orkney and 22nd July 2011 in the Shetland Museums and Archives
杏吧原创 Public Lecture, Executive Office 鈥淭he North Atlantic Ocean: a key cultural space?鈥 Inverness, 22nd April 2010
鈥淭he Myriad Voices of GMB鈥 George Mackay Brown Fellowship Memorial Lecture, 16/4/10, Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
鈥淚magining Scotland: Evaluating our Cultural Icons" 杏吧原创 lecture by VC 13/8/09
鈥淭he poetry of Sorley Maclean鈥 杏吧原创 lecture by VC 29/4/04
PhD students
PhD students
- Catherine McCullagh 鈥淐urating Heritage for Sustainable Communities in Highly* Vulnerable Environments: The Case of Scotland's Northern Isles鈥
- Lynn Campbell "The Role of the Kirk in Orkney, 17th - 19th centuries"
Previous PhD students
- Jill de Fresnes "The lives of the herring girls 1900-1950" completed 2010
- Tom Rendall "The effects of inmigration on Orkney dialect" completed 2011
- Angela Watt " The Cultural Significance of Scalloway in Shetland and the Norseman鈥檚 bias" completed 2012
- Silke Reeploeg 鈥淣ordic Regions of Culture: Norway and Scotland - Intercultural links, regionalization and communities of narrative after 1770鈥 completed 2016
- Jane Blair MacMorran 鈥淭he Fiddle Style of Ron Gonella鈥 completed 2017
- Gillian Beattie Smith "Women Travel writers in 18th Century Scotland" completed 2017
- Marc Chivers 鈥淭he History of the Shetland Boat鈥 completed 2017
- Lydia Crow 鈥淥rkney Folklore and Identity鈥 completed 2018
- Anne Artymiuk 鈥淭oday鈥檚 No Ground to Stand Upon: The Life and Poetry of George Campbell Hay鈥 completed 2019
- Rebecca Ford 鈥淲ords and Waves: a dialogical approach to discourse, community, and Marine Renewable Energy in Orkney鈥 2022
Examiner
- Andrea Freund "Runic writing in the Viking diaspora: expression of a Norse identity?"
- Ersev Ersoy 鈥淪ocial Reality and Mythic Worlds: Reflections on Folk Belief and the Supernatural in James Macpherson鈥檚 Ossian and Elias L枚nnrot鈥檚 Kalevala鈥. Dept. of Scandinavian Studies, University of Edinburgh, November 2011
- Lesley Riddoch 鈥淗utting in Scotland and Norway鈥, University of Strathclyde, December 2019
Suggested PhD Topics
Professor Heddle is happy to discuss individual projects in the general areas of Highlands and Islands language, literature, heritage, cultural tourism, and Scottish cultural history.