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The University of Edinburgh: Celtic Studies and Scottish Studies

Institution The University of Edinburgh View institution profile
Department School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Web https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying
Study type Research

Summary

Make an original, positive and lasting contribution to Celtic studies and Scottish studies. A PhD is an opportunity to expand upon your interests and expertise as part of an active research community at the forefront of policy development and cultural innovation. Join us at the heart of Scotland’s capital and festival city.

Over the course of your PhD, you will complete an original body of work under the expert guidance of at least two supervisors. Your thesis will be around 80,000 words.

Our programme includes access to skills training, including research methodologies specific to Celtic studies and Scottish studies. Our research collections, resources and facilities are outstanding.

Our students come from a range of disciplinary and personal backgrounds, so your undergraduate or masters degree does not need to have been in Celtic and Scottish studies to apply. We are very happy to discuss your proposed topic with you prior to application.

Celtic

We specialise in the languages, literatures, and cultures of the Celtic peoples, from Iron Age Europe to the present. Drawing on these strengths, we play a leading role in relation to language planning and maintenance, particularly for Scottish Gaelic.

Our expertise covers:

  • Celtic sociolinguistics and language policy

  • Gaelic linguistics, dialectology, and language technology

  • Scottish Gaelic and Modern Irish language, literature, and culture

  • Old Irish and Middle Welsh language, literature and culture

  • Gaelic (especially Scottish and Irish) language, literature and culture in the diaspora

  • Medieval Gaelic religious culture

  • Gaelic folklore

  • Gaelic and Irish manuscript studies and book history

  • The 'Celtic Revival' in Scotland

Scottish studies and ethnology

We are the proud home of Scotland’s longest-established department for studying the nation’s traditions, belief systems, and forms of cultural expression. Over the past 70 years, the School of Scottish Studies Archives have grown into an unrivalled collection of sound, video, film, and photographic resources that continue to inspire new research and creative work.

Our expertise covers:

  • custom and belief

  • digital folkloristics

  • ethnological fieldwork methods

  • heritage studies

  • material culture

  • oral narrative

  • place names

  • social organisation

  • song and instrumental music and performance

  • traditional arts and their contemporary practice

Doctor of Philosophy - PhD

Edinburgh University

Edinburgh. Extraordinary futures await.

The University of Edinburgh is one of the world's top universities, consistently ranked in the world top 50, and placed 34th in the QS World University Rankings 2026.

Our position as one of Britain’s leading research universities was reaffirmed by the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top research-intensive universities, ranked 4th in the UK for research power (Times Higher Education, Overall Ranking of Institutions), with 90% of our research activity classified as world leading or internationally excellent in the 2021 Research …

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