Scotland-Canada Academic Partnership (S-CAP)
The Scotland-Canada Academic Partnership (S-CAP) is a partnership between the Centre for Scottish Studies (CSS) at the University of Guelph and the Scottish Government Office in Canada (SG Canada).
Officially launched on 12 September 2024 at the University of Guelph, S-CAP aims to (1) promote communication between scholars in Canada and Scotland with mutual research interests; (2) highlight their research to the wider community; and (3) bring them into closer contact to nurture new research agendas, across a broad range of disciplines and domains.
Scholars in Canada and Scotland who are engaged in shared research projects; and engaged in research focussed in part or in whole on the other country are invited to join the S-CAP mailing list to receive information of relevance from CSS and SG Canada. Partners will also have the opportunity to engage in workshops organised around research topics and questions of mutual interest.
To become involved and join S-CAP, please contact CSS: scottish@uoguelph.ca.
We look forward to building a vibrant scholarly network to promote mutual interests and nurture new research agendas and collaborations.
NEWS & EVENTS
S-CAP Annual Lecture 2026
Join us virtually on Tuesday 10 February at 1pm (EST)/6pm (UK) on Zoom for ‘’Nova Scotia and the Imperial Strategies of Highland Scots", delivered by Professor Karly Kehoe, St. Mary's University.
About the Talk…
This talk explores the legacy of colonial privilege by looking at patterns of Scottish Highland settlement in Nova Scotia. Catholic Highlanders made use of the spectrum of advantages inherent in the White European settler experience despite facing significant persecution at home. Examining their connections with the process of empire building builds a deeper understanding of the complexities of colonization and helps us to think about Scottish History’s connection with Canada’s reconciliation process.
About the Speaker…
Karly Kehoe is Professor of History at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her work focuses on Scottish Highland migration, colonial privilege and settler colonialism in the north Atlantic world. She is the author of numerous works related to Scottish History, including the award-winning book Empire and Emancipation: Scottish and Irish Catholics at the Atlantic Fringe. She is the past convenor of the Scottish Historical Review Trust and co-editor of the Histories of the Scottish Atlantic book series with Edinburgh University Press.
This talk is generously supported by the Scottish Government Office in Canada.
Registration is available on Eventbrite.
We hope you can join us!
Scotland-Canada Academic Partnership (S-CAP) Visiting Research Fellowships – Call for Applications (2026)
S-CAP Visiting Research Fellowships are designed to foster original research and scholarship by scholars utilizing the University of Guelph’s Scottish Studies Collection. Two fellowships, each valued at CAD$1,500, are intended to support research using the Scottish archival collections held at the University of Guelph’s McLaughlin Library. They are supported by the Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph and the Scottish Government Office in Canada. The Fellowships provide a stipend intended to help defray living, travel, and/or research expenses of researchers to come to the University of Guelph to conduct their research utilizing the Scottish Studies Collection. This fellowship is not intended to cover any tuition costs in whole or in part.
Deadline for submission of applications: 1 March 2026.
You can visit the McLaughlin Library (University of Guelph) webpage for full Fellowship Details.
Past Events
On 10 September 2025, Professor Robert Dunbar delivered the inaugural S-CAP virtual Lecture, ‘Gaelic in Scotland, Gaelic in Canada: Challenges, Prospects, Connections’. In this lecture, Prof. Dunbar traced the historical trajectory of the Gaelic language in both Scotland and Canada and explored efforts by individual activists, communities and governments to support the language and its speakers in both countries. Ongoing links between these two sea-divided language communities and what can be learned from them were also explored.
Robert Dunbar is a Canadian and is Professor of Celtic and Chair of Celtic Languages, Literature, History and Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.
