Dr Maggie Scott
School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies
Current positions
Associate Dean Academic QA & Enhancement
Biography
As Associate Dean Academic (Quality Assurance and Enhancement) I lead on Teaching and Learning activities for the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology. I support Programme Leaders, Subject Group Heads, and Directors across the School to develop new degree programmes and improve our current portfolio. Liaising with colleagues across the University, particularly in the Quality Enhancement Office, Marketing Team, Timetabling, and Estates, I assist in both the academic and practical delivery of our programmes and modules.
During my secondment as Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Education (Nov 24-July 25), I co-authored and led on the Discovery Phase of the University of Salford’s new Education Delivery Plan (2025-30), working with the Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost, and academic and professional service teams across the institution.
I came to Salford in 2008 as a Lecturer in English Language and Literature, and since then I have held a range of roles in the School of Arts Media and Creative Technology, including Chair of Taught Ethics, Module Leader, Programme Leader, and Associate Director.
Research-led teaching has always been central to my work in Higher Education, and I continue to supervise students in the key areas of research in which I regularly publish, including onomastics (name studies), lexicography (dictionaries and dictionary-making), and the history and perceptions of the Scots and English languages. Minority languages, language rights, and language as a tool for controlling and (re)claiming identity are areas of particular interest within those subjects. I am a Section Editor for the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and author of the annual ‘Onomastics’ section for the Year’s Work in English Studies. Externally I am also a Panel Assessor for the Office for Students and reviewer for Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter.
Areas of Research
My most recent research project has involved looking at elements of academic governance, having completed an MBA to enhance my understanding of leadership and management. My more established research relates to the linguistic study of Scots and English. My PhD focused on the origins and history of Scottish place-names, and I have continued to publish in this field, becoming increasingly interested in critical approaches to place-names and their perception. I am a member of the Editorial Board for Onoma, the Journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, and for Names, the Journal of the American Name Society. I have also worked on topics related to the Scots Language more generally, with many of my research publications developing from my lexicographical work. I am interested in all of the contexts in which Scots is currently used, particularly in the wake of Scottish devolution, and have published on the uses of Scots in contemporary literature. Having been a dictionary editor for ten years with the Historical Thesaurus of English at Glasgow University, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the Dictionary of the Scots Language, at present, with Independent Scholar Joshua Pendragon, I am developing the project website Beard’s Trove https://www.beardstrove.org/ to examine the unpublished manuscript dictionary of ‘Arms, Armour and Costume’, compiled by Charles Relly Beard.
Areas of Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students studying language and literature, including the historical and modern lexicography of English and Scots; name studies (onomastics); dialectal, slang and non-standard English; the Scots language and modern Scots literature.
I am interested in supervising students studying onomastics (name studies), lexicography (dictionaries and dictionary-making), and the history and perceptions of the Scots and English languages.
Qualifications
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Masters in Business Administration
2020 - 2022 -
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
2009 - 2010 -
PhD (Linguistics)
1997 - 2004 -
MA English Language & Literature
1993 - 1997