The ISWE Team
Who we are
Our Director | Dr Shaun Evans
The day to day management and intellectual development of the Institute is overseen by Dr Shaun Evans, a historian who specialises in gentry culture and landed estates in Wales across the period c.1500–1900. You can read more about Shaun’s research on Our Director page.
Academic Staff
ISWE’s ‘home’ at Bangor University is within the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences. The Director is also supported by a team of academic colleagues based in different Schools right across the University. These colleagues contribute expertise from fields as diverse as archives and woodland management, legal history and music, sustainable land use, Welsh literature and book history. They provide important interdisciplinary perspectives on our work, represent ISWE within their subject areas and supervise our doctoral projects.
Dr Lowri Ann Rees is one of the co-founders of the Institute. She is a historian with research and teaching interests focused on the landed estate and rural protest in eighteenth and nineteenth century Wales. After completing her doctoral research on the subject of the Middleton Hall estate in Carmarthenshire she has published on the Rebecca Riots, land agents and Wales’ links with the East India Company.
Dr Marian Gwyn, an Honorary Research Fellow at Bangor University, is a leading expert on links between transatlantic slavery and Welsh estates, with a particular focus on the history and heritage of Penrhyn Castle.
Dr J. Gwilym Owen’s research interests centre on property law and Welsh legal history. He has published extensively on the Welsh medieval system of cyfran and the operation of tir prid, which underpinned the early development of many Welsh estates.
Prof Sue Niebrzydowski is a Professor of Medieval Literature and co-director of the Stephen Colclough Centre for the History and Culture of the Book
Stephen Rees is a Lecturer in Musicology with interests in the patronage and performance of music in the Welsh country house.
Prof Huw Pryce is Professor of Welsh History who researches medieval Wales, the historiography of Wales and antiquarianism in the nineteenth century.
Prof Peredur I. Lynch specialises in Welsh literary history, especially medieval and early modern praise poetry.
Dr Karen Pollock is a Lecturer in Heritage and Archaeology, with a focus on heritage management and interpretation.
Dr James Walmsley is a Senior Lecturer in Forestry, with interests in woodland management and woodland heritage.
Dr Eifiona Thomas Lane is a geographer with interests in the connections between natural and cultural heritage, agriculture, the food economy and the sustainability of rural communities in Wales.
Dr Norman Dandy is an environmental social scientist and director of the Sir William Roberts Centre for Sustainable Land Use.
Doctoral Researchers
Our doctoral researchers are an essential part of our mission to more clearly understand the histories, cultures and landscapes of Wales. We have succeeded in attracting a cohort of bright, committed and enthusiastic researchers to Bangor University who are undertaking important studies linked to our research interests. You can read more about their PhDs in the doctoral projects section of our website.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board is an external body consisting of experts and community members who share a concern for the development of ISWE into a vigorous intellectual entity capable of making a positive difference to Welsh society and culture. The Board comprises a group of individuals whose expertise and skills align with our interests – including historical and contemporary understandings of estates and country houses, archives, rural affairs and the cultural heritage of Wales. The profiles of our Board members are available to view on the Advisory Board page.
Management Group
ISWE’s status as a research centre within Bangor University is overseen by a Management Group comprising the Head of the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences; Head of Archives and Special Collections; Head of the College of Arts, Humanities and Business; and Executive Director of Development, with the Chair of the Advisory Board and Director in attendance.
The Director reports on ISWE’s progress to the Head of the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences, and to the School’s Research and Impact Committee.
Honorary Research Fellows
At the time of the Institute’s establishment five eminent academics and archivists were invited to join ISWE as Honorary Research Fellows, to advise on our research plans and intellectual development. The late Prof A. D. Carr was one of Wales’ leading medieval historians whose pioneering research into the development of landed estates and the uchelwyr in north Wales provides an important foundation for our work. The late Dr John Davies made wide-ranging contributions to the study and promotion of Welsh History, including important works on landownership and a major publication on Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute. Prof David W. Howell’s studies of Welsh rural and agricultural history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries continue to provide an essential framework for research. During his career working at the National Library of Wales, J. Glyn Parry became recognised as one of Wales’ leading archivists, with especial expertise in the records of the Court of Great Sessions. Prof Prys Morgan has made significant contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of Wales, especially in the sphere of eighteenth-century cultural history.
Associate Members
We recognise that many individuals and organisations external to Bangor University share an interest in progressing our intellectual and cultural aims and aspirations. Partnership and collaboration with these colleagues and stakeholders is fundamental to our mission. We therefore offer an Associate membership status as a form of affiliation for individuals and organisations who actively support and contribute towards our objectives. Associate membership is offered as a means of enhancing our academic reach and collaborative capacity through engagement with a network of external partners in other research organisations and in the cultural heritage, archives, historic house and rural affairs sectors. Our Associate members will play an important role in helping us to embed the all-Wales reach of the Institute; and assist in demonstrating the far-reaching relevance of our work, including in international terms. Please contact us to enquire about membership.
Friends of ISWE
We are always delighted to learn that our work is of interest to people within and beyond Wales. Since our establishment we have benefitted from the support, engagement and encouragement of many individuals and organisations. We are grateful that many of the people who support and follow our work have joined our Friends scheme. Our Friends are an important part of ISWE. If you would like to join them, please visit the Support our Work [link to Support our Work page] section of our website.
