About SCIS

The Scottish Centre for Island Studies is an inter-disciplinary response to the developing terrain of island studies research and practice in Scotland and seeks to develop this focus at University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in partnership with a range of individuals and organisations locally, nationally and internationally.

Our focus: Scotland’s Islands & Island Studies

The Scottish Centre for Island Studies at UWS arises out of practical experience in the brokerage of knowledge transfer partnerships between the academic and the island communities in Scotland and an awareness of the potential, the capability and the benefits inherent in the development of such partnerships on three fronts.

• Firstly, an appreciation of the contribution the academic community can make to assisting Scotland’s outlying and sparsely populated islands in addressing their needs and their aspirations to secure the sustainable island communities of the future.
• Secondly, an understanding of the contribution Scotland can make to the growing academic field of island studies and an appreciation of how participation in comparative and collaborative research in this field can be of tangible benefit to Scotland’s island communities.
• Thirdly, recognition of the cultural, social and environmental assets of Scotland’s islands, their significance and possibilities for cultural celebration, social inclusion, and economic regeneration in a national and international, as well as local and regional, context.
• The Scottish Centre for Island Studies (SCIS) is research and knowledge exchange initiative formally based within UWS, involving a network of colleagues across Scotland’s islands and mainland and our international network with island studies colleagues more globally. As is appropriate to its aims and objectives, SCIS operates from the outset as a ‘cross-institutional’ centre with a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach to research, outputs and related activity.

For information, activity and collaboration relating to Scottish island and coastal economics, enterprise and regional studies please contact  SCIS Co-Director Professor Mike Danson, Heriot-Watt University (michael.danson@hw.ac.uk).

For information, activity and collaboration relating to Scottish island and coastal history and politics please contact SCIS Co-Director Mr Ray Burnett, burnett.ray@gmail.com.

For information, activity and collaboration relating to Scottish island and coastal community, identity, creativity, arts and cultural studies please contact SCIS Co-Director Dr Kathryn A. Burnett, University of the West of Scotland, kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk

Please also refer to the related links and further details on this website of our interests and activity.

*Contractual arrangements and agreements with external bodies as to funding, contracts, and research and consultancy are most usually processed through the (UWS) University’s Innovation and Research office (IRO) as the latter’s single point of contact for such arrangements.

SCIS Community

The Scottish Centre for Island Studies works in collaboration with community, academic and policy individuals and organisations in Scotland and beyond.

SCIS Advisors

The centre led by Professor Mike Danson (at UWS) was supported in its early development by an external advisory group drawn from the wider HEI community in Scotland and the international island studies academic community. Many colleagues have acted in an advisory capacity and include:

• Professor Godfrey Baldacchino, University of Malta, Malta
• Professor Beate M.W. Ratter, University of Hamburg, Germany
• Dr Peter Hay, Reader, School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania
• Professor Philip Hayward, Director, Island Cultures Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
• Professsor Edward MacDonald, Dept of History, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
• Dr Suzanne Thomas, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
• Professor Peter de Souza, Hedmark University College, Norway
• Professor Neil Blain, Dept of Film & Media Studies, University of Stirling
• Professor Murdo MacDonald, School of Fine Art, University of Dundee
• John Norman MacLeod, Deputy Director & Head of Studies, Sabhal Mór Ostaig, UHI
• Dr Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, Sabhal Mór Ostaig, UHI.
• Mr Geoff Whittam, School of Business, Glasgow Caledonian University