The University of Aberdeen recently hosted the launch of an undergraduate journal which brings together each of Scotland's ancient universities.
Groundings Ancients was founded as a collaborative, intervarsity journal in 2012 by Glasgow University Dialectic Society, a student debating and social society, in conjunction with the four ancient universities of Scotland. It was founded as a sister-publication to the Dialectic’s Glasgow journal Groundings, which seeks to further the Society’s aim of promoting debate.
The second volume of the journal, which welcomes submissions from undergraduates studying across the arts, humanities and social sciences, saw University of Aberdeen student, Alasdair Neilson, take on the role of Managing Editor.
Alasdair and an editorial board made up of representatives from the Universities of Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh andSt Andrewshad the extremely difficult task of selecting three student articles per institution to be included in the journal.
In total, 94 submissions from across the four universities were received. Once the board had chosen the top 12 articles to feature in the journal, each author was assigned an editorial board member to work one-to-one with them to polish their submission ahead of publication in print and online. The editorial board, along with an intervarsity advisory board, then selected the winner of the prize for best article overall.
The winning article was submitted by Stephanie Kirby from St Andrews for her submission entitled Vassals or Vikings?: Orkney’s identity in the changing Norwegian world.
Aberdeenstudent Nicolas Paul and Deborah White from the University of Glasgow were also commended for their work.
Managing Editor, Alasdair Neilson, said: “Being part of Groundings Ancients has been a fantastic experience but also extremely challenging as we received so many article submissions of an extremely high standard.
“I am delighted to have represented the University of Aberdeen on the editorial board and I am sure that next year’s Managing Editor from the University of Edinburgh will enjoy every minute of what I’m sure will be an extremely busy year.”
Professor Margaret Ross, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, added: “I am delighted to have hosted the 2014 launch ceremony for Groundings Ancients, a student-run journal publishing only excellent work in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences selected from the four Scottish ancient universities. This journal extends students' skills by providing the scope for students to become published for an international audience and to participate in editorial activities at a local and national level.”
Ian McIver, Glasgow student and Editor-in-Chief of the journal, said: “The production of a journal like this takes a lot of work and I am very grateful to everyone involved for the support they have provided for this year’s volume of Groundings Ancients.”
For more information about Groundings Ancients and to read the first two volumes for free online, please visit www.groundings-ancients.co.uk