Professor Margaret Bennett BA(Ed) MA PhD DMus (Hon) HRSA

Margaret Bennett was brought up and educated on the Isles of Skye, Lewis and Shetland. After training as a teacher at Jordanhill College of Education, she went on to achieve a BA in Education and an MA in Folkore from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, before gaining a PhD in Ethnology at the University of Edinburgh.

Margaret’s early career was spent in Newfoundland, where she worked as a teacher in an elementary school in St John’s before taking up freelance work as a singer, broadcaster, folklorist and college teacher. In 1975, she became Folklorist for a project at the Royal Museum of Canada, where she recorded and documented the Folklore and Religion of the Eastern Township, Quebec, and at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. 

In 1976, she returned to Scotland to work in teaching and curriculum development in Glasgow, Dumfries and Kingussie before taking up a lecturing post in the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. During her time there, she taught courses in Custom and Belief, Scots Song, Childlore, Traditional Drama, and Traditional Medical Lore and Emigrant Studies, and also acted as a postgraduate advisor. 

In 1996, Margaret began a long association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) where she combined the role of part-time lecturer in the Scottish Music Department with freelance work as a writer, singer and broadcaster. In 2015, Margaret was awarded an Honorary Research Fellowship as a Lecturer in Folklore at the University of St Andrews. 

A prolific author, Margaret has written 18 books about Scottish, Gaelic and Canadian culture and history, as well as island life. Many of these books have been accompanied by music CDs. She has also contributed to countless books and journals and has been recognised for her work with numerous awards, including becoming an Honorary Life Fellow of the Association of Scottish Literary Studies and Honorary Professor of Antiquities and Folklore at the Royal Sottish Academy, Edinburgh.