Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) launch event

Building on the ongoing research by staff and students at UHI's Institute for Northern Studies, Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) will be launched with an event at the Brahan Lecture Theatre, UHI Perth.

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View from Hoxa, Orkney

The series of seminars will take place on Monday 16 December 2024, from 11am to 4pm

Professor Alex Sanmark, UHI Institute for Northern Studies, stated, "Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS) has been a growing area of study and research at UHI Institute for Northern Studies. VEMS pulls together the growing number of staff and postgraduate researchers presently studying in this area into one identifiable unit. We believe the creation of VEMS will help us highlight the world-class research being undertaken by our growing number of postgraduate students."

The programme itself will feature international speakers who will introduce the idea of a focus on Viking and Early Medieval Studies and highlight the research currently being conducted across UHI Perth, Orkney and Shetland.

Programme

11.00am  Opening and VEMS launch: Dr Margaret Cook, UHI Perth Principal, and Professor Alex Sanmark, UHI Institute for Northern Studies
11.15am  David Griffiths, University of Oxford: Life in a longhouse 
11.45am  Christian Cooijmans, University of Oslo: On Home Ground: The Viking Encampment between Liminal Space and Social Place
12.15pm  Caroline Paterson: A likely female furnished burial from Norby, Shetland
12.45pm  Mark Hall, Perth Museum, Culture Perth & Kinross: Vikings-on-the-Tay: On some red and other herring

1.15pm to 2.00pm Lunch

2.00pm  Victoria Thompson Whitworth - The monumental reinvention of the kingdom of Strathclyde
2.30pm  Shane McLeod (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – The Norse sentinel system of Orkney 
3.00pm  Oisin Plumb (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – The Orcades and Northern Britain in the Anglo-Saxon Mappa Mundi
3.30pm  Alexandra Sanmark (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) – Execution sites in medieval Sweden 
4.00pm  Closing remarks

We welcome anyone who wishes to attend. For those who cannot travel to UHI Perth, Scotland, the event will also be live-streamed.

If you would like to attend in person or online, please email shane.mcleod@uhi.ac.uk