Researching the North at Aberdeen

Abstract

In 1996 the University of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland entered its sixth century of existence, having been founded in 1495. The fifth-oldest university in the English-speaking world, Aberdeen was keen to build on its established reputation as a leading research institution and enter a new phase of renewal through substantial fundraising and investment. The result of these initiatives, termed
the Sixth Century Campaign, has transformed the university through the creation of over 60 new professorships, the establishment of new departments and research centres and the attraction of external grant support in unprecedented amounts (see www.abdn.ac.uk for an overview of the university, its history and the campaign).

The centrepiece of this renaissance was a conscious decision to brand the institution as the ‘Global University of the North,’ promoting its work as a worldleading centre for research into the high latitudes, expressed across the full disciplinary spectrum from humanities to the hard sciences. As the holder of one of the new Chairs, and inaugural head of a new Department—Archaeology—I have been closely involved with the development of Northern Studies at the University of Aberdeen, and the editors have commissioned this short piece by way of introduction to a research centre that may be of interest to the Journal’s readership.