Postgraduate study

What's it like to study here?

Our award-winning department is small, friendly and innovative. Students come from a range of disciplinary and personal backgrounds, so your undergraduate degree does not need to have been in Celtic and Scottish Studies to apply.

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Based in Scotland’s capital and festival city, we are at the forefront of policy development and cultural innovation. Working at the cutting edge of linguistic, cultural and sociolinguistic research in the Celtic languages, we lead the way for future language planning and maintenance, particularly for Scottish Gaelic.

As a postgraduate student, you’ll have lots of opportunities to engage in our community, including regular seminar series throughout term time (with talks by staff, research students and visiting speakers), the annual O’Donnell Lecture, performances and traditional music sessions, and a range of conferences.

Passionate about music, literature, song and storytelling, we have strong links with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Storytelling Centre and National Museum of Scotland. We also have a great relationship with student societies, including An Comunn Ceilteach (The Highland Society), organisers of the city’s largest annual cèilidh.

Our research resources and facilities are outstanding. We are ideally placed to explore the theory and practice of working with archives, drawing extensively on an unrivalled range of sound, video, film and photographic resources in the School of Scottish Studies Archives, including as a catalyst for performance. You can also draw on the expertise of our Traditional Artist in Residence.

I think the thing that has influenced and inspired me most has been the people, and how inviting and welcoming the whole community has been in this department. Through being actively involved in conferences, students learn quite a bit about how information is transmitted among academics and also presentation skills, which are important for so much.

Dhanya Baird

What can I study?

For 2025 entry, we are offering two Masters by Research degrees and our PhD in Celtic Studies and Scottish Studies.

Applications to start a programme in September 2025 are now open.

Find out more about our research programmes

Not sure which programme is right for you?

We're happy to help you decide.

Email us about postgraduate study in Celtic and Scottish Studies 

It’s impossible to do justice to the positive impact that the staff - teaching, administrative, and Archive - have had on me. Right from the start, they communicated a real enthusiasm for and delight in the subject area, and a warm collaborative openness towards the students which manifested itself in giving us freedom to let us explore our own research interests.

Dr Ella Leith