I teach courses that are mainly focused on seventeenth century and early eighteenth century Scotland. I am committed to research-led teaching as well as the teaching of Scottish history within a wider international context. I have also taught courses here at Strathclyde on Tudor England and Early Modern Europe and I have contributed to other courses on Modern Scottish History and Modern European History.

Undergraduate teaching

V1202 Scotland 1603-1707: From the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Parliaments (second year)

V1304 The American West (with Dr Mark Ellis) (third year)

V1337 The Covenanters and the British Civil Wars c.1637-1651 (third year)

V1424 The Covenanters and the British Civil Wars, c.1637-1651 (fourth year honours module)

V1444 The American West (with Dr Mark Ellis) (fourth year honours module)

V1429 & V1430 The 1707 Act of Union in a British and European Context (fourth year special subject)

Postgraduate

MSc Historical Studies

V1966 Scotland and Ulster in the Early Modern North Atlantic World

I am also the Campus Director at the University of Strathclyde for the Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute that we run with the University of Dundee. The Institute runs from 2013-2015 with the theme of Scotland: Identity, Culture and Innovation.

I am the Internationalisation Co-ordinator for the School of Humanities

Since 2009 I have been a member of the Steering Committee of History UK.

I am a trained QAA Subject Assessor and I have been an External Examiner for undergraduate courses at the universities of St Andrews and Glasgow. I am currently an External Examiner for Scottish History undergraduate courses at the Crichton Campus, University of Glasgow, and for taught Masters courses in History at the University of Dundee.

I have been the External Examiner of PhD theses at the universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, and Ulster.

Research

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Research Interests

My research is mainly focused on seventeenth century and early eighteenth century Scotland, including the following research areas:

The Scottish Covenanters

Scotland and Ulster

The Scottish Parliament

History of Political Institutions

The 1707 Act of Union.

I have published on all of these topics. My work has been published in France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the USA. My research on the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament has been published in the specialised publications of The French National National Assembly and the Parliaments of Catalonia, Poland and Portugal respectively. I have a leading role in the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions (ICHRPI) as the editor of the Commission's journal Parliaments, Estates and Representation published by Taylor and Francis.