Category: Nordic
-
UHI Institute for Northern Studies Welcomes Academic Delegation from Malmö University
The UHI Institute for Northern Studies is delighted to welcome staff and students from Malmö University in Sweden to Orkney from 8th to 11th October 2025. This will be their third visit to Orkney following successful visits in 2023 and 2024. Through a program of field visits, seminars, lectures, and…
-
Inaugural Interdisciplinary Symposium a Resounding Success
The inaugural interdisciplinary symposium, “The Future of Northern and Arctic Islands: 2050 and Beyond,” organised by the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Institute for Northern Studies, was a resounding success. The event attracted 78 delegates and featured international speakers from across the Northern Hemisphere. Held on September 19, 2025, the…
-
SEAGULLS AND STANDING STONES, BISHOPS AND BUTTER, BAGPIPES AND BULLETS: THE NORSE IN CAITHNESS MEMORY
This blog post was written by UHI Institute for Northern Studies MLitt Viking Studies student, Stephen Barnaby. I grew up in Thurso, surrounded by streets named after luminaries from the days of the northern Norse jarldoms: Sigurd, Thorfinn, Sweyn, Harold, Magnus. I’d like to claim these dated from the eleventh…
-
Next Phase of The Norse and the Sea Project Fieldwork Commences
UHI Institute for Northern Studies VEMS (Viking and Early Medieval Studies) researchers Professor Alexandra Sanmark and Dr Shane McLeod have recently returned from fieldwork at Loch Lomond, the Kintyre peninsula and Islay in Scotland. The early Spring weather was glorious and signalled a successful week examining the next phase of…
-
Analysing Viking Age Textile Production in Northern Britain
Amanda Robinson, an MRes student at the University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies, has recently begun her studies in Viking and Early Medieval Studies at UHI Perth. Her research, entitled ‘Spinning Threads: An Analysis of Viking Age Spindle Whorls in the Northern British Isles, ’ will…
-
Ragna’s Islands: Researching Names and Places in Orkneyinga Saga, Papay, North Ronaldsay and Fair Lisle
Professor Judith Jesch, Dr Matthew Blake, Judith Jesch and Corinna Rayner of the University of Nottingham talk to us about their latest research in this guest blog post. Ragna’s Islands is an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded research project built around a new translation of The Saga of…
-
PhDing, Ballading and January Living in the Faroe Islands: Sjúrðar kvæði deluxe edition
An update from Institute for Northern Studies PhD student Anthony Olsson. At the beginning of my PhD in Faroese poetry and literature, I joked to a friend ‘you’ll find me somewhere windy and expensive in the North Atlantic’. True to form, off I flew to Tórshavn at the beginning of…
-
‘Shining a Light Over History: Vikarvet Antiquities Association and the Use of History in Bohuslän’ with Dr Thomas Småberg
As part of the INS Public Seminar Series Dr Thomas Småberg presented ‘Shining a Light Over History: Vikarvet Antiquities Association and the Use of History in Bohuslän’ on the 21 April at 7pm. The nineteenth century and early twentieth century was a period of constructed national identities throughout Europe. Nationalism…
-
The last days of Hakon the Old
Norwegian king Hakon Hakonsson died in Orkney, where his body rested over the winter months until he could be removed home safely
-
Viking violence – not just a bloody scrap
The Vikings were known for their feuding and violent ways.
Odin's Eye Blog 