I am a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, working on a project entitled 'Kinship Connections and the Earldom of Orkney, c. 900-1263'. I was an undergraduate at Lancaster University and I have since completed an MLitt in Scottish Historical Studies at the University of St Andrews. My interests are in northern Scotland and the Northern Isles during the Viking Age and the Late Norse Period. I have published several pieces related to these interests, including an article about the murder of a bishop of Caithness, a magazine article about a mysterious Viking 'King of Scots', and a biography of a baron who signed the Declaration of Arbroath.