Research collaborations

At the National Library of Scotland we are particularly keen to collaborate with partner organisations over research in a number of areas.

We collaborate with Scottish, United Kingdom and international research organisations. This research is supported by a variety of funding bodies.

We would be pleased to discuss proposals for collaborative research projects. Ideally proposals should match themes included in our research statement. We will continue to concentrate our efforts on projects based around our core collection strengths and the expertise of our staff, and taking account of Library operational requirements.

If you do not already know the relevant member of staff with whom you wish to collaborate, contact us using our online form.

We are collaborating with universities to co-supervise PhDs in areas which match our research criteria. For further details see our collaborative PhD profiles.

Over the past decade we have worked with universities in joint supervision of PhDs funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

In 2014 we joined the Scottish Cultural Heritage Consortium (SCHC) and were successful in a partnership bid for the second round of AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships.

More about SCHC collaboration

Northern Bridge Consortium Training Partnership Collaborative Doctoral Award opportunities

CREATe is the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy, based at the University of Glasgow. It is funded jointly by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

CREATe investigates the future of creative production in the digital age, and in particular the role of copyright.

In partnership with the Fulbright Commission, we have a programme to host Fulbright Scholars from the United States of America.

More about the Fulbright programme

We collaborate in projects. funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Details of these projects will be included here as soon as they are available.

We are collaborating with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities, (SGSAH) including over PhD opportunities funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council.

Through our collaboration with SCSAH, we have been able to offer an artificial intelligence internship, a 'Protesting the Eighties' Artist in Residence and an internship to investigate the impact of archive film on wellbeing.

The Library is collaborating with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to offer a policy internship. The Policy Internships Scheme provides the opportunity for UK Research and Innovation funded PhD students to work for three months in one of a selected group of highly influential policy organisations.

Further details of the 2023/24 Policy Internships Scheme can be found on the UKRI website.