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Our PhD Students

Meet our PhD students and find out more about their research subjects below.

Kirsty MacDougal

Kirsty MacDougall

Kirsty is from Bernisdale in the Isle of Skye and is a lecturer in Gaelic at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, where she teaches the immersion courses.

Her research, “Transmission between generations in Skye: a look at the obstacles facing fluent Gaelic speakers in using the language with the next generation”, aims to examine the intergenerational transmission of Gaelic in Skye. Special focus will be placed on the parishes of Kilmore, Sleight, Waterford and Sníosart. This research aims to understand how often and in what circumstances Gaelic is used in these areas, and why. It is intended to put forward proposals for initiatives and policies that could support the revival of Gaelic at family and community level.

Ross Christie

Ross Christie

Ross has previously worked as an outdoor guide, working specifically with pupils in Gaelic-medium education and offering them the opportunity to use, develop, and contextualise their Gaelic in new, different situations.

Ross is investigating the language practices of teenagers in the context of minority language revitalization as part of a sociolinguistic research project. This project will aim to evaluate specific features of informal language immersion programmes that contribute to the language and personal development of Irish teenagers. It will then examine how such provision might be implemented in the context of Gaelic education policy, as the language undergoes significant change in terms of speaker numbers and practices.

Rebecca Madlener

Rebecca Madlener

Rebecca grew up in Austria were she did an undergraduate degree in linguistics. She completed a Master’s degree in linguistics in Sweden before she moved to Skye in 2022 to learn Gaelic. She enjoyed her time here so much that she decided to stay and do her PhD here.

Rebecca’s research looks at the meaning of Gaelic words for landscape features in the language today and throughout the language’s history. She looks at what individual words mean and how words for similar landscape features are different from one another through the use of information from interviews with Gaelic speakers on the Isle of Skye, from historical texts and from place-name evidence. Her research will provide insight into the way in which Gaelic speakers perceive the natural world and the connection they have to the landscape.

Liam Alastair Crouse

Liam Alastair Crouse

Originally from the United States, Liam moved to Scotland to attend university. He now lives in Uist and enjoys boating, (shell)fishing, and piping.

Liam is a PhD student in partnership with Tobar an Dualchais and funded through a collaborative doctoral award by SGSAH. Focussing on the Tobar an Dualchais recordings from Berneray, Harris, and Eriskay, he is investigating how folklore is created and transmitted diachronically within social groups by analysing the component parts of the sound archives (fieldworkers, informants, folklore) within the broader contexts of relevant folklore collections from the 1860s onwards. He is a part-time student and works as an MSP researcher and on-call firefighter.

Kate Langhorne

Kate Langhorne

Kate has been working independently, in Gaelic heritage for a few years now; including storytelling sessions, community talks, music, creative writing and podcasts. She works with conservation organizations and museums.

Kate researches the heroic stories of Gaelic: stories we have in Ireland and the Isle of Man connected to Fionn Mac Cumhaill; Diarmad and Gráinne; Deirdre and Naoise etc. She takes a special look at these stories on the landscape of the Highlands. She draws from manuscripts; from collections; archaeological evidence and oral records; to revive these stories in the very place where they were set. These sites are at the center of the wider conversation about culture and power. In this sense too, these stories are a way to express the conflict between the people of the area and the environment. What power do these stories have to revive our creative, environment?

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