Welcome to the Institute of Ulster Scots Studies.
The Institute of Ulster Scots Studies was established in January 2001. It is located at the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster.
The goal of the Institute is to explore the history, heritage and legacy of the Ulster Scots people. The focus of the research carried out will be on the Ulster Scots Diaspora. Both the common and the diverse currents of the Ulster Scots experience have been often ignored: the first because of a tradition of writing distinctive national histories which tended to fragment that experience geographically; the second because of a tradition of cultural essentialism which tended to displace difference in favour of national uniformity.
In a world of self-conscious nation states, the cultural connections of people who shared no single national identity brings problems of conceptualisation. Ulster Scots studies expand the boundaries of conventional understanding but has often been intellectually marginalised.
The role of the Institute is therefore to promote the experience of the Ulster Scots as a mainstream academic concern.