Murray Pittock

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Murray G. H. Pittock MAE^[1] FRSE^[2] (born 5 January 1962) is a Scottish historian, Bradley Professor of Literature at the University of Glasgow and Pro Vice Principal at the University, where he has served in senior roles including Dean and Vice Principal since 2008. He led for the University on the University/City of Glasgow/National Library of Scotland Kelvin Hall development (kelvinhall.org.uk), and has chaired Glasgow's unique early career development programme, which has been highly influential in the sector, since 2016.^[3] He has also acted as lead or co-lead for a range of national and International partnerships, including with the Smithsonian Institution,^[4] and plays a leading role in the University's engagement with government and the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), organizing the 'Glasgow and Dublin: Creative Cities' summit in the British Embassy in Dublin in 2019, and working with the European network CIVIS on the creation of a European policy document on universities and civic engagement, on which he gave a masterclass for La Sapienza University [1] ^[5] He also produced a major report on the impact of Robert Burns on the Scottish Economy for the Scottish Government in 2020; a Parliamentary debate was held at Holyrood on the recommendations, which have been cited in policy debate many times since.^[6] In 2022, he was declared Scotland's Knowledge Exchange Champion of the year.^[7] Outside the University, he served on the Research Excellence Framework (REF) Institutional Environment Pilot Panel in 2018-22,^[8] and on the National Trust for Scotland Board (2019-27) and Investment Committee, as well as acting as Co-chair of the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance (SAHA) and chair of the Governance Board of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs.^[9] He also serves as Scottish History Adviser to the NTS and as an adviser to a wide range of other national heritage bodies and the Scottish Parliament; recently he has provided expert advice to both the Scottish and British parliaments on promoting Scotland abroad, and serves on the Scottish Government's Scottish Connections Advisory Panel on the diaspora [2] . He is on the Advisory Board of NISE, the Europe-wide research group bringing together over 40 research centres working on national identities and was President of the Edinburgh Walter Scott Club in 2019-20 and 2021-22.^[10] He has given a number of major lectures, most recently the Magnusson, MacCormack and Caledonian lectures [3]

Previously he was a Professor of Scottish and Romantic Literature and Deputy Head of Arts at the University of Manchester, becoming the first ever professor of Scottish Literature at an English university. He has also held visiting appointments at universities worldwide in Celtic Studies, English, History, Languages and Equality and Diversity including: New York University (2015), Notre Dame (2014), Charles University, Prague (2010); Trinity College, Dublin (2008); Auburn (2006) the University of Wales in advanced Welsh and Celtic studies (2002) and Yale (1998, 2000–01).^[11] He has been invited as a visitor or to speak at leading universities including Berkeley, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford and the Sorbonne.