Acknowledgements
At Home in Scotland: Stories of Place has drawn on the wisdom, energy and resources of a great many people over the course of its gestation and realisation. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have provided the moral and material support for this project, and acknowledge some of the debts we have incurred along the way.
At Home in Scotland first gained traction as an idea in summer 2013, and we benefited considerably from early discussions with Dr David Farrier (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) and Davide Panzeri (Scottish Storytelling Centre) who were generous with both their time and enthusiasm. Many thanks are due to Dr Aaron Kelly (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) for endorsing and supporting our proposals through various avenues of funding. Laura Tisdall (University of Cambridge) and Polly Tisdall (Rambling Heart) graciously shared their experience of organising the storytelling-based project Talking History at the University of Cambridge, while fellow PhD student Dorothy Butchard (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) was similarly beneficent in sharing her successful funding applications with us. We are extremely grateful to the University of Edinburgh Researcher-Led Initiative Fund and the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) Student-Led Initiative Fund for the awards that allowed us to realise this project.
Dawn Smith (Community Engagement Developer, University of Edinburgh) has been an absolute treasure trove of advice and information, and we would like to thank her for facilitating so many productive connections. Julie Robertson and Corinna Bremer from the LLC School Office were ever-helpful in all matters pecuniary, as were the indispensable members of the LLC Graduate School Office who also helped us with event logistics and promotion: Sophie Bryan, Linda Grieve, Sarah Harvey and Gordon Littlejohn. LLC Postgraduate Director Dr Alex Thomson kindly acted as a sounding board as we explored options for promoting and communicating the project's activities.
We were delighted to be able to hold the Symposium at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and are particularly grateful to Anthea Taylor for hosting us. Many thanks are obviously due to our fantastic speakers for their stimulating presentations, and to our panel chairs - Cormac Ó Callanáin, Lucy Linforth, Erin Farley and Sarah Laurenson - for deftly guiding the ensuing discussions. It was an honour to be included in TradFest 2014: Donald Smith's (Director, Scottish Storytelling Centre) engaging public lecture was a boon to our programme and Dr Michael Given (Archaeology, University of Glasgow) a most excellent chair.
We have been lucky enough to work with several dedicated individuals both within and out with the University of Edinburgh while planning the community and public engagement elements of the project. Melanie Smith (Widening Participation, University of Edinburgh) has been integral to many aspects of At Home in Scotland, and it is difficult to imagine the project without her energy and invaluable input. It is a privilege for our project to be a part of the Kickstart Summer School. Anne Grindley (Contact the Elderly) has been a genial collaborator from the outset, and it was a pleasure to work with Contact the Elderly's guests and volunteers. Dr Heather Rea, Dr Sarah Anderson and Dr Silvia Villa of Beltane Public Engagement Network have offered insightful advice and support at various stages of the project's inception and execution; it has been a great advantage to learn from their expertise in public engagement. Shula Hawes (Ladder to the Moon) graciously shared ideas and principles with us for active and creative engagement with elderly people with dementia. And Dr Nicholas Jenkins (Health and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh) provided clear and constructive guidance both in discussions and in our preparatory workshop.
The project would have been impossible without the wholehearted commitment of our participants from across the College of Humanities and Social Sciences whose excellence in scholarship is matched by their warmth and zeal for communication. Their contributions to the project blog have been provocative and informative, and we are also grateful to all those guest bloggers who shared their own stories of research, space, place, home and nation. Finally, we would like to thank all those members of the public who engaged with the At Home in Scotland: Stories of Place project, and shared their own stories of place with us. This project has whetted our appetite for the wonderful wealth of stories that lie both within and out-with the academy, and we look forward to future endeavours that may allow us to discover more.
At Home in Scotland first gained traction as an idea in summer 2013, and we benefited considerably from early discussions with Dr David Farrier (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) and Davide Panzeri (Scottish Storytelling Centre) who were generous with both their time and enthusiasm. Many thanks are due to Dr Aaron Kelly (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) for endorsing and supporting our proposals through various avenues of funding. Laura Tisdall (University of Cambridge) and Polly Tisdall (Rambling Heart) graciously shared their experience of organising the storytelling-based project Talking History at the University of Cambridge, while fellow PhD student Dorothy Butchard (English Literature, University of Edinburgh) was similarly beneficent in sharing her successful funding applications with us. We are extremely grateful to the University of Edinburgh Researcher-Led Initiative Fund and the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) Student-Led Initiative Fund for the awards that allowed us to realise this project.
Dawn Smith (Community Engagement Developer, University of Edinburgh) has been an absolute treasure trove of advice and information, and we would like to thank her for facilitating so many productive connections. Julie Robertson and Corinna Bremer from the LLC School Office were ever-helpful in all matters pecuniary, as were the indispensable members of the LLC Graduate School Office who also helped us with event logistics and promotion: Sophie Bryan, Linda Grieve, Sarah Harvey and Gordon Littlejohn. LLC Postgraduate Director Dr Alex Thomson kindly acted as a sounding board as we explored options for promoting and communicating the project's activities.
We were delighted to be able to hold the Symposium at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and are particularly grateful to Anthea Taylor for hosting us. Many thanks are obviously due to our fantastic speakers for their stimulating presentations, and to our panel chairs - Cormac Ó Callanáin, Lucy Linforth, Erin Farley and Sarah Laurenson - for deftly guiding the ensuing discussions. It was an honour to be included in TradFest 2014: Donald Smith's (Director, Scottish Storytelling Centre) engaging public lecture was a boon to our programme and Dr Michael Given (Archaeology, University of Glasgow) a most excellent chair.
We have been lucky enough to work with several dedicated individuals both within and out with the University of Edinburgh while planning the community and public engagement elements of the project. Melanie Smith (Widening Participation, University of Edinburgh) has been integral to many aspects of At Home in Scotland, and it is difficult to imagine the project without her energy and invaluable input. It is a privilege for our project to be a part of the Kickstart Summer School. Anne Grindley (Contact the Elderly) has been a genial collaborator from the outset, and it was a pleasure to work with Contact the Elderly's guests and volunteers. Dr Heather Rea, Dr Sarah Anderson and Dr Silvia Villa of Beltane Public Engagement Network have offered insightful advice and support at various stages of the project's inception and execution; it has been a great advantage to learn from their expertise in public engagement. Shula Hawes (Ladder to the Moon) graciously shared ideas and principles with us for active and creative engagement with elderly people with dementia. And Dr Nicholas Jenkins (Health and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh) provided clear and constructive guidance both in discussions and in our preparatory workshop.
The project would have been impossible without the wholehearted commitment of our participants from across the College of Humanities and Social Sciences whose excellence in scholarship is matched by their warmth and zeal for communication. Their contributions to the project blog have been provocative and informative, and we are also grateful to all those guest bloggers who shared their own stories of research, space, place, home and nation. Finally, we would like to thank all those members of the public who engaged with the At Home in Scotland: Stories of Place project, and shared their own stories of place with us. This project has whetted our appetite for the wonderful wealth of stories that lie both within and out-with the academy, and we look forward to future endeavours that may allow us to discover more.