I am project coordinator for the EnviroCitizen project at The Greenhouse at the University of Stavanger. Before this, I was Cultural Engagement Fellow with the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age at the University of Nottingham where I curated the record-breaking Danelaw Saga: Bringing Vikings back to the East Midlands exhibition (15/12/2017 to 08//04/2018) and developed the Vikings in the East Midlands website. Prior to moving to Nottingham, I was the IRC ‘New Horizons’ post-doctoral researcher at University College Cork on The World-Tree Project, a community collection initiative that produced a digital multimedia archive of resources for the teaching and study of the Vikings.
I worked in commercial archaeology throughout the UK for twenty years, before returning to university to research my PhD: Berserkir: A re-examination of the phenomenon in literature and life. I have a BA in Scandinavian Studies, specialising in Norwegian language, literature and culture, and an MA in Viking and Anglo-Saxon Studies.
My research interests are Viking Age history, Old Norse literature, reception studies, public engagement and outreach. My work has included advising various authors about Vikings for their books, most recently the English language translation of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga manga, and I currently have a book in print called Vikings: Raids. Culture. Legacy which I wrote with my friend and colleague Dr Marjolein Stern.
Would any of your other jobs include teaching English, History and Latin at a now defunct school in Newbiggin-by-the-sea?
If yes, I think you were my teacher. How many Ruarigh Dales can there be in the world who’s an archeologist, loves horses and an expert in anything Viking?!