Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies

Thesis Topic: Informal language learning spaces for adult speakers of Scottish Gaelic

Supervisors: Dr Marsaili MacLeod, Dr Michelle Macleod

Educational background (BA, MA, etc.): Licence in History (Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France), Masters in Irish Studies (Université de Haute-Bretagne, Rennes, Brittany), MSc in Celtic and Scottish Studies (University of Edinburgh).

What are your research interests/what are you currently working on? I am currently focusing on my PhD topics, which means that I am mostly looking at minority language acquisition for adults and sociolinguistic behaviours in a minority language situation. My other research interest also inhold the study of early medieval history of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, and Celtic languages and ethnology. I have also been looking at Norse mythology and linguistics.

What do you do outside of academia (hobbies, personal interests, etc.)? Apart from my work at University, I am learning Norwegian and Finnish. I enjoy reading folktales and epic poetry but am also very fond of Science-Fiction and Fantasy literature and cinema.

Why did you choose to study in Aberdeen? My PhD topic was offered by the University, and the prospect of working in the North-East appealed to me.

What is your favourite part of studying and living in Aberdeen? I have a keen interest in Doric and North-East culture and history. I also like the size of the city, which I find both big enough to meet my needs and small enough to be easy to live in. I am very happy with the Gaelic department here, whose ambiance and solidarity makes me enjoy my studies.

How do you think your experience in Aberdeen will prepare you for the future? I am receiving the guidance I need in terms of my academic work, with care and professionalism. I also have the opportunity to meet different people and to learn outwith my main field of research, meaning that I get to have a broader approach to whatever may come next.

Thesis Topic: Foreign Influences in Early Mediaeval Italian Manuscripts

Supervisor: Professor David N. Dumville

Educational background (BA, MA, etc.): University of Aberdeen: School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, Masters of Letters in Mediaeval and Early Modern Studies (Awarded with Distinction, November 2016).

McGill University (Montréal, Canada): Faculty of Arts – Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Bachelors of Arts in Italian Studies (awarded June 2014)

What are your research interests/what are you currently working on?

My current research focuses on the presence of Celtic palaeographical traditions in early mediaeval northern Italian manuscripts. I am also interested in Greco-Byzantine influences in southern Italian manuscript production during the central Middle Ages.

My broader research interests include mediaeval church history as well as the the collection of mediaeval material culture by antiquaries in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.