Research Zooarchaeology

Researcher bound for Orkney on three-month scholarship exchange

The UHI Archaeology Institute will host a researcher from India in April as part of an international programme run by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH).

The UHI Archaeology Institute will host a researcher from India this spring as part of an international programme run by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH).

Camellia Biswas.

The British Council Scotland SGSAH EARTH Scholarships enable international research collaborations between PhD and early career researchers and Scottish universities.

One of the 13 successful applicants is Camellia Biswas, a doctoral researcher in Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, who specialises in ecological anthropology, human-animal studies, disaster studies and participatory research methodologies.

Her PhD thesis focuses on mapping the dynamics of human and non-human interactions in the Indian Sundarbans, under the larger discourse of the climate disaster.

During her three-month scholarship exchange, which begins in April, Camellia will examine the evolution of human-seal relationships in the Northern Isles through storytelling, folktales, and myths embedded in historical and zooarchaeological records.

Working with Professor Ingrid Mainland, Camellia aims to use technical software and concepts from zooarchaeology, cultural studies and political ecology to create a storytelling digital arena where data from fieldwork will be analysed and exhibited digitally.