Guest Speakers

Morayo Akandé is a writer, actor and director, who trained at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, USA. 1745 is her debut writing credit; the feature film version is currently in development. 1745 was inspired by advertisements that Morayo discovered for runaway slaves, placed in Scottish newspapers of the time.

Moyo Akandé trained at the prestigious Arts Educational Schools in London. She has an extensive list of television credits in particular for the BBC and has worked in many theatre’s across Britain with Olivier and Tony award winning directors.

Dr Andrew Mackillop is a historian who specialises in the role of Scotland and Scots in British imperialism between c. 1690 and c. 1820. While his interests extend to all parts of the Empire he currently focuses on the role of Scots, Irish and Welsh in the English East India Company. His book on the subject, Human Capital: Scotland, Ireland, Wales and British Imperialism in Asia, c.1690-c.1820 will be published by Manchester University Press in the autumn of 2021.

Dr Churnjeet Mahn is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Strathclyde and an AHRC EDI Leadership Fellow (focusing on race and heritage in Scotland). She is currently researching experiences of racism and homophobia in travel accounts and is leading a British Academy grant entitled Cross-Border Queers: The Story of South Asian Migrants to the UK with Rohit Dasgupta.