Harriet completed a PhD in Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh,  and her academic work focuses on  power, authority, law and the state in early modern Scotland, including the implications of ‘statecraft’ for the lives of ordinary people. She has previously worked for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, submitting a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a Catalyst Funding Endowment Grant. Along with Professor Julian Goodare (Edinburgh) and Dr Alan R. MacDonald (Dundee), Harriet was the recipient of a Carnegie Collaborative Grant for the project, ‘Agriculture and Teind Reform in Early Modern Scotland'. The project’s first book was published by Boydell in April 2024. 

Harriet joined the Law School in 2013, previously working for the Global Justice Academy and then the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP).  The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, PeaceRep, is a six-year Accountable Grant programme funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. At £19m, PeaceRep is the largest grant in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Harriet is on the Steering Group for GENDER.ED and PeaceRep, she holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from Edinburgh, and she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Harriet's academic background is in History, having completed a PhD in Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh in 2012. Her doctoral thesis, 'Gender, Sex and Social Control: East Lothian, 1610-1640', was funded by the ESRC and awarded the Jeremiah Dalziel Prize in British History in 2012. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology on the Carnegie-funded project, 'Agriculture and Teind Reform in Early Modern Scotland'; and has published in the field.

Harriet is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). At PeaceRep, she leads the Transitions Futures Hub project with Laura Wise, which develops and delivers PeaceRep's teaching and training offer. Harriet has taught at all levels as a member of the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, and is Course Organiser for Ohio University's Edinburgh programme, which runs annually as a study abroad option for honour-roll students.

PeaceRep

Law

Agriculture & Teind Reform in Early Modern Scotland