Management Team
Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin
Conchúr Ó Giollagáin holds the position of Gaelic Research Professor in the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland. He is also the academic director of Soillse, the multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research project.
He is based at Scotland’s national college for Gàidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, on the Isle of Skye.
Soillse Associates
Dr Nicola Carty
Nicola Carty was a Soillse PhD student at Glasgow University. She now works as a research assistant there.
Dr Fiona O' Hanlon
Fiona O’ Hanlon was a Soillse Research Fellow at Edinburgh University. She now works as a Chancellor’s Fellow in Languages Education at Moray House School of Education at the university.
Dr Timothy Currie Armstrong
Tim Armstrong was a Soillse Research Fellow at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. He is now a Senior Lecturer at the college.
Dr Mark McConville
Mark McConville was a Soillse Research Fellow at Glasgow University. He now works as a Research Associate and Project Manager at the university.
Dr Stuart Dunmore
Stuart did his undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned a double First in Celtic and Linguistics (2008), before graduating with a Distinction in his master’s degree from the University of Oxford (2010). Stuart’s doctoral research, which was funded by Soillse, examined the long-term outcomes of Gaelic-medium education, assessing language use, ideologies and attitudes among adults who started Gaelic-medium primary education between 1985 and 1995.
Stuart completed his PhD in 2014, and was employed as a postdoctoral project assistant at the University of Glasgow for 6 months as part of a team researching language proficiency among Gaelic learners, as part of the Bòrd na Gàidhlig-funded project CLAG (‘Comasan Labhairt ann an Gàidhlig’). In October 2015 Stuart started as a Soillse Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Cassie Smith-Christmas
Cassie did her BA in linguistics at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, US in 2006, and she completed her MA at Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands in 2007, where she wrote her thesis entitled ‘He Brought Home the English:’ Language Shift on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. This thesis looked at three generations of a Gaelic-speaking family, who were also the subject of her doctoral thesis at the University of Glasgow (thesis submitted July, 2012), entitled I’ve lost it now dè a bh’ agam: Language Shift, Maintenance, and Code-Switching in a Bilingual Family. This thesis was situated in recordings of the family speaking naturally in the home, and the primary focus of this particular work was language alternation.
Cassie’s research interests include discourse analysis, language alternation, pragmatics, child language, and natural language use. Additionally, she is currently researching migration to Highland and Island communities in the twentieth century and is particularly interested in boarded-out children and evacuated children during the Second World War.
Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan
Hugh Dan MacLennan is a Gaelic-speaker born and brought up in Caol in Lochaber, with both parents from Harris. After secondary school, he went to Glasgow University where he graduated with Honours in Celtic Languages and Literatures, as well as a DipEd (Educational Psychology) whilst training as a Gaelic teacher.
A career in broadcasting and newspaper journalism, in Gaelic and English, and mostly in news, current affairs and sport followed and he was involved in the establishment of both BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC Alba. He has also worked with most of the current Gaelic institutions such as SMO, Lèirsinn and UHI.
He has extensive experience of working with the Gaelic community at all levels from voluntary work in organisations such as the Gaelic Language Promotion Trust, Urras Shomhairle (current Chairman) and Gaelic Society of Inverness, to Scottish Government policy-making and delivery.
He has a particular expertise in and knowledge of communications and media work, along with historical and other types of research. Media research, Gaelic community dynamics and Gaelic education will be key areas of his work with Soillse at the University of Edinburgh where he took up his post as Research Fellow in September 2015.
Hugh Dan has lectured internationally in Australia, Canada and the USA, as well as at the Royal Geographical Society and to various other historical organisations on various aspects of Highland emigration and sport, has published numerous research articles on the history of shinty and was a researcher on the BBC’s series na h-Eilthirich. He is a Professional Fellow in the Academy of Sport at the University and organised an exhibition on Scotland’s sporting trophies at the Commonwealth games in Glasgow in 2014. He has also organised an exhibition on the history of shinty at Hampden park and is researching Gaelic’s links with various sports with a view to producing material for Gaelic teaching.
Soillse Associates
Soillse would welcome any person who wishes to contribute to our research activities as an Associate Researcher.
This includes both:
- Academics in UK and International Institutions actively involved in regional and minority languages’ research; and
- Practitioners, from public bodies, voluntary groups and schools who are actively involved in Gaelic language related research activity and/or any other individual researcher who wishes to become involved in the work of Soillse.
If you wish to become involved please follow this link.
Management Board
Management Board
The Soillse Management Board is chaired by: Vice Principal (Research and Impact), University of the Highlands and Islands
The Management Board is represented by:
• The Soillse Management Team
• Scottish Funding Council representative
• University of the Highlands and Islands – Executive Office