Dr. Andrew Jennings
Associate Professor
Dr Andrew Jennings is based in Lerwick, Shetland's capital. He enjoys everything about life in this beautiful archipelago, from rowing in the local yoal team and taking part in the Fire Festival, to walking the dog and experiencing the wild Shetland weather. Living in Scotland's most northerly islands, with their Nordic cultural inheritance, inspires his research and his teaching. He is the programme leader on the MRes Creative Practice, MLitt Viking Studies, Island Studies, Orkney and Shetland Studies and Highlands and Islands Lliterature.
Research interests
Dr Jennings has a particular research interest in creative practice that involves island life, histories and cultures. He is by training a historian and continues to research the early Medieval History of the Scottish Islands, with an emphasis on place-names and the Vikings. He wrote his PhD on 'Gael and Norse in Western Scotland c.795 to c.1000'. He also researches in the field of Island Studies, particularly focussing on the islands of the North Atlantic and the Baltic, this includes looking at modern life in the islands, the history of the North Atlantic between the years 500-1200, folklore of the Northern Isles, Gaelic culture, and the history of Shetland. He has recently undertaken research on the Norse influence on Shetland witchcraft vocabulary, the impact of the Trondra and Burra bridges on the island communities, the future of the Scottish islands in 2050 and beyond, Viking Age place-names in Norway and Scotland and the role of the creative economy in the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland.
He is interested in supervising research students pursuing topics related to:
- Creative practice with an island cultural or historical theme
- History of the Scottish islands
- Vikings in Scotland
- Island Studies themes
- Connections between Scotland the Nordic World