Being Selected for the SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme

I am very happy to share the news that I have been selected by SGSAH, the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities, for the SFC Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme. Through the programme, I will be conducting a research exchange with the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, working with the Chair of Methods of Analysis and Imagination, looking specifically at work researchers have been doing with creative writing and spatial design.

It’s a real pleasure to be able to conduct this exchange, in part because it will allow me to access pedagogical and research archives that Professor Klaske Havik of the Chair of Methods has been accumulating in the over fifteen years that she has been using creative writing methodology in architecture and architectural education. I am also honoured to represent the institutions where I conduct my doctoral research — The University of Glasgow in the Department of Creative Writing and the Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh School of Architecture — as well as SGSAH in helping reinforce strong research bonds between Scottish and European institutions.

TU Delft is truly a world-class institution for architecture (among other disciplines) and the work on literary design methods being pursued by the team there is an amazing opportunity for me to make real strides in my doctoral thesis, and at the same time I cannot understate how important the articulation between local and national support in Scottish research institutions is for making meaningful work possible. For this, and much more, I am deeply grateful, and thrilled to have an opportunity to give this exchange all my attention and energy, so as to show gratitude in fulfilling my mission and beyond.

I am also particularly excited about how this exchange will allow for real connection to work happening throughout Europe. TU Delft’s Chair of Methods of Analysis and Imagination is the pilot institution for the EU-funded COST Action CA18126 Writing Urban Places, a research network studying narratives of mid-sized European cities and placemaking, bringing together over 200 researchers, practitioners and artists, as well as over 100 European institutions. By working with my colleagues in Delft, I will also have better access to the COST Action network, in order to see how such an important exchange of knowledge and experience can be built, maintained, and extended.

Overall, I have my work cut out for me, but I am looking forward to sharing some of the results here soon.