North Highland Connections will present a lecture which will interest all who have a love for Caithness and its cultural history.

Dr Donna Heddle, Director of the Centre for Nordic Studies at the Orkney and Shetland College of the University of the Highlands and Islands. With the intriguing title Caithness: The Well at the World’s End?, the lecture will look at the lived experience and diverse heritage of the communities of Caithness. Dr Heddle say “I’ll be talking about Caithness and its historical and social global context with some thoughts on how these can be capitalised upon to add to the sustainability of its communities so looking to the future too which might be of interest to the local folk.”

Much is happening in the North Highlands which will have a great influence on the lives of present and future generations; Dr Heddle, who hails from Caithness, will offer her insights placed in the context of the ancient story of Caithness.

The lecture is on Thursday, 27th June, at Mackays Hotel, Wick, Caithness. Admission: £8; £6 concessions. School students, free.

Dr Donna Heddle is Director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Nordic Studies at UHI based in Kirkwall, Orkney and Scalloway, Shetland. In terms of academic achievement, her undergraduate programme in Scottish Cultural Studies won a Times Higher Education Supplement award in 2005. She has also developed postgraduate programmes in Highlands and Islands Literature and Culture, Orkney and Shetland Studies, and Viking Studies.

With a particular passion for locative research – looking at communities from within and how they interact – her research interests also include: Scottish and Northern Isles cultural history; small island studies; language and literature and Old Norse. She is also the author of a number of publications in these areas and is currently leading several national and international research and cultural tourism projects involving the North Atlantic rim.

Dr Heddle is also chairwoman of the Modern Languages Association (MLA) International Scottish Studies Committee and has been involved in a number of Northern Periphery Programme (NPP) cultural projects involving technology and education. She has chaired six conferences, including the HIE/ Creative Scotland Old Maps and New – Where Culture and Social Enterprise Meet conference in November 2010, and is a popular keynote and invited speaker, and has 30 conference papers to her credit.

Website: www.northhighlandconnections.org

Source: NHC