Kathrin Zickermann, FRHS

I specialise in the analysis of Scottish and European maritime and commercial links during the early modern period with a particular focus on the history of the Scottish Northern Isles and family networks. I am currently broadening this research by focusing on the development of early modern ports, particularly in Northern Europe. I am also investigating the significance of rivers as trade routes and contested areas. Expanding my research on military history I am furthermore examining the German component of the transnational Swedish army of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in cooperation with a research project at the University of St Andrews. I am the convener of the interdisciplinary Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA) at UHI.

Before becoming a lecturer at the Centre for History in 2011, I held the Alan Pearsall Research Fellowship (Maritime and Naval History) at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR, London), researching early modern transnational commercial and maritime networks of Scottish merchant families. This project developed from my doctoral research on early modern Scottish contact with and settlement in Northwest Germany which I completed in 2009 at the University of St Andrews.

In 2024 I was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.