Gillian MacDonald

Gillian S. Macdonald (Ph.D., Central Michigan University) is the Director of the Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research (LEADR) in the Departments of History and Anthropology at Michigan State University (MSU). She specializes in digital pedagogy and digital research methodology in the classroom in History and Anthropology.

Her research output and agenda are driven by two interwoven threads: the production of analytical digital projects using digital tools alongside traditional research methods, and digital public engagement projects in collaboration with both academic and non-academic partners. The overarching goal is to make history, anthropology, digital cultural heritage, and the skills associated available to everyone and show applicability beyond just the classroom.

She was trained as a transnational and comparative early modern European historian and specializes in the late-seventeenth century British Isles and Atlantic World. She is interested in people, movement, and environment within the sphere of political regulation and determination (how borders function). Her current book project focuses on the Irish Sea or the North Channel and its role in the late seventeenth century Revolution in Scotland.