Ross Roy Medal for alumnus Paul Malgrati

Dr Paul Malgrati has won this year's Ross Roy Medal for 'the best thesis submitted on a subject relating to Scottish literature'. It is the first time this prestigious award has been granted to a PhD candidate from the School of English.

Dr Malgrati’s thesis, 'Robert Burns in Scottish Politics (1914-2014)', was completed at the University of St Andrews under the supervision of Professor Robert Crawford (School of English) and Professor Colin Kidd (School of History). His work explores the contested legacy of Robert Burns, from Great War jingoism to interwar modernism, 1940s socialism, and contemporary nationalism. It contends that Burns's memory, once channelled by Victorian elites in support of British unity and social stability, has now come to embody Scotland's class and constitutional conflicts.

Since finishing his PhD earlier this year, Dr Malgrati has joined the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow, where he now works as a post-doctoral research assistant whilst turning his thesis into a potential monograph.