Academic Prize to be Awarded in UHI Institute for Northern Studies PhD Students' Name
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Suzy Collyer, one of our PhD students at UHI Institute for Northern Studies.
Suzy was in her second year of doctoral research and was a popular and enthusiastic member of the INS PhD community. Her work, titled "What's in a Name? The Western Isles as a Central Place during the Viking Age," examined the role the Western Isles of Scotland played as a central location along a prominent sea highway during the Viking Age.
Suzy was based in Toowoomba, Australia, where she studied remotely for her PhD. She completed her MLitt in Viking Studies with Distinction at UHI Institute for Northern Studies in 2021, focusing her dissertation on the evidence for Viking Age slavery in the Western Isles of Scotland. In addition to her MLitt, Suzy also held a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning. She was a member of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies and the Viking Society for Northern Research and beyond her PhD studies, Suzy worked as a senior Ancient History and Geography teacher at Fairholme College in Toowoomba.
Suzy was very active at UHI, making numerous contributions to university life. Notably, she presented at the UHI student conference in January 2024. Through her diligent and enthusiastic research, she greatly enriched the debate and knowledge base at the UHI Institute for Northern Studies, particularly in the areas of Viking and Early Medieval Studies (VEMS).
We would like to think that Suzy will continue to spread the joy that she did in life through this award and we will remember her with much love and pride. Suzy is woven into the INS story for all time.
Professor Donna Heddle. UHI Institute for Northern Studies.
After the devastating news of the loss of Suzy, this award is a fitting tribute to such a wonderful scholar. I am delighted that her name will be remembered every year through this award. It’s particularly fitting that it will be presented in St Magnus Cathedral- a building brimming with the Norse history which Suzy cared so much about and where she graduated from her master’s study so few years ago.
Dr Oisín Plumb. UHI Institute for Northern Studies (Director of studies for Suzy’s PhD)
Of the more than thirty PhD students I have had the pleasure to supervise in Scandinavia and the UK over the years, Suzy stood out as one of the most hard-working and knowledgeable student I have met, always positive and with an unbelievable capacity to find and quickly digest the potentially useful literature I proposed and building up knowledge in the field. If she had been able to complete her thesis, it is my prediction that it would have (as a printed volume) been an important contribution in the field of "Vikings in the west”.
Professor Stefan Brink, Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University of Highlands and Islands and University of Cambridge.
While we most recently lived in regional Australia, about as far from the Highlands and Islands as can be imagined, Suzy's heritage as a McDonald was so very important to her. She described her visit to UHI for her graduation as one of the highlights of her life. Suzy was cruelly lost to us before she could finish her PhD but she was so thankful for the opportunity to study in this field.
It is a measure of the importance of the work of UHI that it reaches regions as distant as ours. In the case of Toowoomba, we have a strong history of Scottish pioneers, which endures in the names of our people, our streets and our schools. I feel overwhelming happiness and, indeed, great sadness, to return a name back to the people of your land. A name precious to me beyond measure and now part of your university. May this award in Suzy's name be another enduring link between distant people and a reminder of the importance of heritage and history.
Suzy would be proud.
Matthew Collyer. (Husband to Suzy)
In memory of Suzy, the UHI Institute for Northern Studies has established the Suzy Collyer Prize that will be awarded annually to the student who achieves the highest score in a Norse-related dissertation. The first prize will be awarded at the 2025 graduation to be held in November in St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.