The Society is thrilled to announce that its membership has elected Dr Clare Downham as its new President during the Annual General Meeting of 2021.

Clare is currently Reader in Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool, and has previously worked as a research scholar at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, as well as a lecturer in Celtic Studies and History at the University of Aberdeen. She is one of today’s most prominent voices in viking studies, and has published extensively on the overall history of the Viking Age, as well as its developments and contacts around Scotland, England, and across the Irish Sea region, in particular. Although her considerable research output has often dealt with the overall political dimensions and historiography of these interactions, her work also focuses on the more personal and human elements of memory, identity, and community. Her myriad publications include Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: the Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014 (Edinburgh, 2007) and Medieval Ireland (Cambridge, 2017). She also contributed a chapter to the Society’s own most recent monograph, Traversing the Inner Seas (2017).

Clare’s numerous achievements and accolades in teaching, researching, and promoting aspects of the Northern World and its many peoples, cultures, and interactions allow her to bring a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to this role, as well as a unique perspective on (pre)modern Scotland and its neighbouring regions.