Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Expertise
Over the last few years I have developed two, interconnected, principal areas of research. One set of interests lies in the field of heritage studies and with the very recent upsurge in critical thinking around the ways the past is put to use in the present. My focus here is on the development of the concept of ‘heritage from below’ and the contested meanings of heritage as made evident in acts of memorialisation.
Linked to this is my interest in the social and cultural history of local community and landscape change with a particular emphasis on historical and cultural processes shaping the landscape of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Highland Scotland. The focus of this research is on popular protest and the sense of place, personal and local identity made manifest in the oral tradition of particular places and events.
Out of this has arisen an interest in the nature/culture dualism. Here my efforts focus on the ways in which the croft and crofters may be said to have been shaped by a set of vernacular environmental ethics.
I am always interested in enquiries and research proposals from students interested in any aspect of the above general areas.
Research links
I am a historian by training but a historical geographer by inclination. Consequently, almost everything I do has landscape(s) either at or close to its heart; with a particular focus on the twentieth-century Highlands and Islands. I joined the Centre for History in September 2015, having previously been with the University of Gloucestershire for a considerable period of time. I completed my PhD at Bristol University, where I researched the historical geography of acts of social protest in the Highlands between the two World Wars.
I have strong links with Curtin University, Western Australia, and have held two Research fellowships there, in 2008 and 2014.
My most recent book, Landscapes of Protest in the Scottish Highlands after 1914, was shortlisted for the research book of the year in the Saltire Awards 2014.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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- 1 Similar Profiles
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Re-writing the rulebook of landownership: analysing and assessing the economics of community landownership
1/04/16 → 9/09/16
Project: Research
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Editorial: Highland agency and land settlement schemes
Gibbard, M. & Robertson, I. J. M., 2020, In: Northern Scotland. 11, 2, p. 97-99 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review
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Afterword
Carter, T., Harvey, D. C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 1 Jan 2019, Creating Heritage: Unrecognised Pasts and Rejected Futures. Taylor and Francis Ltd., p. 224-232 9 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Creating heritage: Unrecognised pasts and rejected futures
Carter, T., Harvey, D. C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 1 Jan 2019, Taylor and Francis Ltd. 244 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
3 Citations (Scopus) -
Creating Heritage: Unrecognised Pasts and Rejected Futures
Carter, T., Harvey, D. C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 4 Dec 2019, Routledge. 244 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Introduction
Carter, T., Harvey, D. C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 1 Jan 2019, Creating Heritage: Unrecognised Pasts and Rejected Futures. Taylor and Francis Ltd., p. 1-15 15 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
2 Citations (Scopus) -
Moral Ecologies: Histories of Conservation, Dispossession and Resistance
Griffin, C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 2019, Palgrave Macmillan UK. 297 p. (Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Moral Ecologies: Histories of Conservation, Dispossession and Resistance
Griffin, C. J., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 2019, Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, p. 1-34 34 p. (Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
4 Citations (Scopus)
Activities
- 1 Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Understanding Scotland's Highlands: land, culture and identity.
Iain James McPherson Robertson (Speaker)
17 Feb 2016Activity: KE and Outreach activities › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
Press/Media
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UHI Staff and Students Honoured in 2024 HISA Awards
Iain James McPherson Robertson
19/07/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Research aims to unravel story of homes in Uist
Iain James McPherson Robertson & Rebecca Rennell
30/04/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Statkraft funds skills report to deliver Loch Ness hydropower project
Iain James McPherson Robertson
20/03/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Statkraft partners with UHI to shape future workforce for Loch Ness hydropower project
Iain James McPherson Robertson
19/03/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Statkraft and UHI join forces to deliver Loch Ness hydropower skills report
Iain James McPherson Robertson
19/03/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Statkraft announces first UK university partnership with University of the Highlands and Islands
Iain James McPherson Robertson
14/03/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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New research sets out to explore the legacy of the Iolaire tragedy
Iain James McPherson Robertson
17/12/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research