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Activists, political prisoners and even a priestess come together in this new collection celebrating a decade since the beginning of the Dangerous Women Project, exploring further what it means for women to be daring. 

On Wednesday 9 September 2026, IASH and the British Council partnered with the Royal Society of Edinburgh's CURIOUS Festival to offer a roundtable on rebuilding national identity after war or natural disaster. The full recording is available below. 

The search is on for the next IASH/Traverse Creative Fellow, with applications now officially open for the 2027 residency, a unique opportunity for writers and theatre-makers to develop bold new work at the intersection of research and storytelling, with a £12,000 commission.

The Institute is saddened to hear of the death of Professor R. Cairns Craig OBE FRSE, who served as Deputy Director of IASH from the late 1990s.

We are thrilled to announce that many current and former Fellows and friends of IASH will grace the stages of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and International Book Festival in 2026. With a diverse array of offerings, including theatre, film, music, poetry, storytelling, readings and talks, there's an abundance of experiences awaiting festivalgoers.

IASH seeks to support the career development of new staff at the University of Edinburgh and those on fixed term contracts, in order to contribute to the aims of Strategy 2030, namely to help promote a diverse, and inclusive research culture, and to provide better education and training for exceptional early career researchers.

The interdisciplinary panel ‘Narratives of the Future II,’ organised by Dr Emrah Atasoy and generously hosted by IASH on 12 June 2026, explored how futures are imagined across literary studies, cultural studies, digital education, theology and political theory, and how such narratives shape our understanding of contemporary global challenges.

“Speaking with Care: Rethinking Narratives of Neurodegenerative Conditions” was a workshop in May 2026 focused on the ongoing and growing challenges of talking about multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Its main aim was to promote more thoughtful and respectful discussions about these conditions, recognising such dialogue as a form of care and social support.

Dr Paula Sledzinska is an interdisciplinary researcher working in the field of Irish and Scottish Studies, and currently a Visiting Research Fellow at IASH. Her research centres on contemporary Scottish literature and theatre with a particular focus on the relationship between cultural representation, national storytelling, and democratic life.

A host of performances by former IASH artists-in-residence will be taking place around Scotland in the next few months. 

Former IASH Fellow Professor Marianne Boruch has won the 2026 Jackson Poetry Prize. Prof. Boruch was the 2012 Fulbright Scotland Distinguished Scholar and later contributed to the Dangerous Women Project, with her poem 'Women' published in our 2021 volume The Art of Being Dangerous (Leuven University Press).

The Dangerous Women Project began at the University of Edinburgh on International Women's Day 2016, asking "what does it mean to be a dangerous woman?" A decade on, the Project has produced over 350 essays, three brilliant books, a whole host of events and a community of authors around the world. For International Women's Day 2026, IASH hosted a celebration of a decade of Dangerous Women.

The Institute is saddened to hear of the death of Professor Margaret McAllister, a regular visitor to IASH.

A lost portrait of Scotland's national poet has been uncovered, thanks to IASH Advisory Board member Dr William Zachs.

Dr Raewyn Martyn has shared the story of her latest artworks, Petrified Paintings, recently installed within the Grant Institute Cockburn Geological Museum as part of her IASH Fellowship. These public artworks will be accessible to view in person at the Museum, online, and in an associated publication as part of the IASH Occasional Papers series.

Former Fellow Dr Marion Maisonobe (IASH-SSPS Fellow 2018; 2019) has been awarded the 2025 Bronze Medal from the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique), France's state research organisation.

Please enjoy this recording of our recent webinar for applicants wishing to apply for the next round, offering insights into our programmes as well as advice and tips.

As part of Doors Open Day 2025, IASH was delighted to host Dr Marie Larsson's exhibition titled The Pill. Angry Chuckles on 27 September. Marie has written a blog for the Binks Hub about her work on contraceptive experiences and knowledge production through poetry.

The Institute's Management Group has approved a new policy on the use of AI by applicants and Fellows. This policy assists applicants and Fellows in the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in responsible, safe, and ethical ways while maximising opportunities to create benefits for researchers.

Two international scholars have been appointed to year-long fellowships at the University of Edinburgh to explore how Indigenous communities from the Philippines and India can inform global debates around the arts, the environment and peacebuilding.

With co-author Philipp Lutz, Dr Walter Bartl explores the fair and equitable distribution of refugees across Europe.

The Institute is delighted to announce that IASH Affiliate and Lecturer in Creative Writing Dr Patrick Errington has been awarded over £2 million by UKRI’s prestigious Future Leaders Fellowships for his project Rewriting Wor(l)ds.

The Institute presents our annual report for academic year 2024-25. Features include a spotlight on artist practitioners at IASH, reports from GENDER.ED and the Decolonised Transformations Project, a calendar of our events over the past year, a full list of Fellows and Affiliates, and much more.

Former Fellow Dr Adriana Alcaraz Sánchez writes for The Conversation on lucid dreaming, consciousness research and what it means to be conscious.

Dr Anthea Moys (she/her) is a South African/UK-based artist and practice researcher whose work explores the intersections of play, power, and decoloniality, and a 2026 British Council 90th Anniversary Research Fellow. With a cross-disciplinary practice spanning two decades, her approach blends arts, play-oriented studies, performance, co-production, and peer-to-peer learning. As a practitioner, her work invites people to reimagine the "rules of the game” and binaries like winning/losing and entertain new, often unwinnable, games that encourage complexity through play. After 15 years as an artist and wanting to sharpen her practice, she completed a practice research PhD at Northumbria University (2022), developing a reflexive decolonial methodology for play and performance studies.