Host organisation: An Lanntair
Project title: Creative Islands
Project description

The project looks at the role of creativity and creative thinking as well as heritage and cultural identity as economic and well being drivers for island communities. It also examines the relevance of oral tradition in the Anthropocene as a tool for understanding and developing community cohesion and sustainability.

Outputs

An R+D residency working with Communities on the westside of the Isle of Lewis with particular focus on the Cultural hub Grinneabhat. Working with the community and An Lanntair we would hope to achieve a collaborative working scenario for applicant and community with the opportunity to exhibit, hold talks and community events around the research outcomes of the intern.

Location

Hybrid

Benefits to the researcher

The intern would hopefully benefit from being based in a welcoming community environment with the opportunity to experience a vernacular Gaelic community with a strong link to its Culture, heritage, language and identity twinned with an outward looking established residency programme and dynamic island creative community. The residency aims to reverse the cliché of 'centre and periphery', building on Kevin MacNeils quote 'We don't live in the back of beyond, we live in the very heart of beyond'.

Key relationships

An experienced creative team at An Lanntair, vernacular Gaelic creative hub at Grinneabhat as well as an ongoing programme of events, concerts, festivals and workshops at An Lanntair and Grinneabhat. The project offers the potential to reach new audiences through these venues and the spaces and platforms they offer.

Timescale

Start date (or must start by): Jan 2026

End date (or must end by): Flexible

Structure: Flexible work pattern and time blocks 

Subject areas

This opportunity would be relevant to the following subject areas:

Prehistoric Archaeology; Landscape and Environmental Archaeology; Languages and Linguistics; Creative Writing; Dance; Drama & Theatre Studies; Music; Visual Arts; Curating; Museum and Gallery Studies; Cultural Geography; Heritage Management; Archives; Cultural History; Imperial/Colonial History; Scottish Studies; Phonetics; Language Variation and Change; Applied Linguistics; Film History, Theory and Criticism; Celtic Studies; Aesthetics; English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh Literature; Colonial and Post-Colonial Studies; Literary and Cultural Theory; Ethnography and Anthropology. 

Person specification

A1. Knowledge Base
  • Essential: Information seeking.
  • Desirable: Subject Knowledge; Research methods – theoretical knowledge; Research methods – Practical application; Languages.
A2. Cognitive Abilities
  • Desirable: Analysing; Synthesising; Critical thinking.
A3. Creativity
  • Essential: Inquiring minds; Innovation.
  • Desirable: Intellectual insight
B1. Personal qualities
  • Essential: Enthusiasm.
  • Desirable: Perseverance; Integrity; Self-reflection.
B2. Self management
  • Essential: Commitment to research.
  • Desirable: Responsiveness to change.
B3 - Professional & career development
  • Desirable: Responsiveness to opportunities; Networking.
C1. Professional conduct
  • Desirable: Respect and confidentiality; Attribution and co-authorship.
C2. Research management
  • Essential: Research Strategy.
  • Desirable: Project planning and delivery.
D1. Working with others
  • Essential: Collaboration.
  • Desirable: Team working
D2. Communication & dissemination
  • Essential: Communication methods.
  • Desirable: Communication media
D3. Engagement & impact
  • Desirable: Public Engagement; Society and culture.

First published: 9 October 2025

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