Since 2006, Tom Devine has been the Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography, Director of the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies and Head of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Edinburgh University.
He is a graduate of Strathclyde University and holds honorary doctorates from his alma mater, The Queen's University, Belfast and the University of Abertay, Dundee.
At Strathclyde he rose through the academic ranks from assistant lecturer to Professor of Scottish History (in 1988), Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and, finally, Deputy Principal of the University from 1994 to 1998.
From 1999 to 2004, he was a member of staff at Aberdeen University being successively University Research Professor in Scottish History, Director of the AHRC Research Centre in Irish and Scottish Studies and Glucksman Research Chair of Irish and Scottish Studies. In addition to these appointments in the UK, he also holds Honorary Professorships across the Atlantic at North Carolina (USA) and Guelph University (Canada).
Tom Devine has published 28 books and over 100 academic articles on such varied subjects as Scottish transatlantic trade, urban élites, rural society, The Angleo-Scottish Union, Irish-Scottish historical comparisons, emigration and famine.
He raised £4.5 million from research councils and external bodies for advanced research in Scottish history and Irish-Scottish Studies over the last six years while at Aberdeen and Edinburgh University.
In 2001 HM The Queen presented him with Scotland's supreme academic accolade - the Royal Gold Medal and in 2005 was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours List for services to Scottish history.
He is the only historian elected to all three national academies within the British Isles.
