Tom Birkett

I graduated with a BA in English from the University of Leeds and the University of Oslo, and an M.St. and D.Phil. in medieval literature from the University of Oxford. Since completing my doctorate Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry (published with Routledge in 2017), I have lectured at Pembroke College, Oxford; worked as the Research Officer on the Woruldhord Project; served as ECR on the AHRC-funded Orkney Viking Heritage Project; co-lead a research team investigating Viking heritage in Munster as part of the AHRC-funded project Languages, Myths and Finds; and co-organised an IRC-funded conference and network ('Eald to New') investigating the translation of early medieval poetry. In 2016/17 I was PI on the World-Tree Project, a large-scale community collection database in the field of Old Norse-Icelandic and Viking Studies, funded by an IRC 'New-Horizons' Starter Grant. I joined UCC in 2012, and received the University's Early Stage Researcher of the Year award in 2018. I teach on the undergraduate, MA and structured-PhD programmes, and occasionally spend my summers sailing with the crew of the Viking ship 'Sea Stallion from Glendalough'.

My research and teaching interests are broad and include Old English literature and language, Old Norse literature and Norse mythology, palaeography and codicology, runology, theories of writing, the post-medieval translation and reception of Old English texts, and heritage engagement. I have supervised PhDs in the field of early medieval textualities, reception and translation studies, Old English poetry and prose, and Old Norse literature and culture.
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Research Interests
Recent publications have focused on the reception of early medieval texts and culture, both in medieval and modern contexts. The include a monograph based on my doctoral thesis entitled Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry (Routledge 2017); an edited collection (with Dr Kirsty March) on the subject of Translating Early Medieval Poetry: Transformation, Reception, Interpretation, published in Boydell & Brewer's Medievalism series (D.S. Brewer, 2018); and most recently, The Norse Myths: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold (Quercus 2018), my first book published with a commercial press. A second collection arising from the IRC-funded World-Tree Project (co-edited with Dr Roderick Dale) entitled The Vikings Reimagined: Reception, Recovery, Engagement, has just been published by De Gruyter/ MIP Press.

I have led several funded projects since joining UCC in 2012, including the Eald to New Project (funded by an IRC New Foundations grant) and The World-Tree Project: An Interactive Digital Archive for the Teaching and Study of the Vikings, a 15 month community collection and public engagement project funded by an IRC New Horizons Starter Grant. I regularly disseminate my research in the public domain, including serving as a panelist on Talking History, conducting interviews in the national press, and delivering talks for schools and community groups.