Recruitment of key staff for the major Gaelic research initiative, Soillse, has begun.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI is seeking to appoint a Research Professor and a Senior Project Manager to co-ordinate and support research on key issues including the use of Gaelic as a family and community language, policy and practice in Gaelic-medium education and the role of public policies in supporting Gaelic. 

The initiative, the first of its kind for Gaelic, will establish a national network for Gaelic research and create new opportunities for study and research into the language and culture.  In addition to the two posts at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, 5 research fellows and nine PhD studentships will be established across the partner institutions, which include Lews Castle College UHI and the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. 

Professor Boyd Robertson, Principal of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI, said: “The Soillse initiative is a unique partnership which will extend research collaboration in Gaelic studies and draw on experienced gained in other research pools and internationally. It represents the largest ever investment in Gaelic-related research and is highly significant in that the contribution of the universities is matched by that of the Scottish Funding Council, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.”

The Soillse programme will be led initially by eminent academic Professor Richard Johnstone who produced the influential report ‘The Attainments of Pupils Receiving Gaelic-medium Primary Education in Scotland’, published in 1999.
 
Professor Johnstone said: “A major aim in the initial period will be to disseminate information on what Soillse is, how it will function, what it will aim to achieve and who might participate in it.  There will be strong collaboration not only across the participating institutions and with the funding bodies, but also with distinguished international experts and above all with the Gaelic institutions, bodies, groups and communities of Scotland.”