University of Glasgow launches Scottish Catholic Studies Arts Lab
Wednesday 22nd October 2025 saw the launch of the newly created Scottish Catholic Studies Arts Lab (SCAL) at the University of Glasgow.
Arts Labs are novel spaces intended to support a range of research-informed projects that are brought together by a shared concern and interest. Other Labs at the University include a ‘Memory Lab’, a lab focusing on ‘Discourses of Sustainability’ and a lab exploring ‘Games and Gaming’. Catholic Studies is an interdisciplinary academic project, originating in the United States of America, that critically explores the Catholic contributions to culture, education and society. SCAL will contribute to this international project by exploring the distinctively Scottish Catholic heritage and continuing Catholic contribution to intellectual and cultural life in Scotland and beyond.
SCAL is one of the latest Labs to emerge from the Arts Labs initiative at the University of Glasgow and will provide an academic gathering space for researchers at the University and those beyond the University to come together to explore the contribution of Catholics and Catholicism to Scottish cultural and intellectual life.
SCAL is a collaboration between the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Social Sciences, and the University Library. This collaboration created fertile ground for the development of a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) ‘Exploring Scottish Catholicism: Education, Philosophy, and Literature’, that will launch in November 2025 and will include dedicated study weeks on Catholic Education in Scotland, Scottish Catholic writers, and the history of Scottish Catholic philosophical theology. In Spring 2026 SCAL will host a one-day academic colloquium to address the question ‘What is Scottish Catholic Studies (SCS)? And, going forward, it will provide a forum for academic and cultural interaction in the exciting space of Scottish Catholic Studies.
The Directors are Leonardo Franchi, Craig Lamont, Philip Tonner, and Siobhan Convery.
Web – Arts Labs at University of Glasgow:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/research/artslab/aboutus/
Web – SCAL:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/research/artslab/ourlabs/scal/
Web – Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/scottishcelticstudies/
Web – St Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education
https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/standrewsfoundation/