Tom Devine

Sir Thomas Martin Devine, Kt OBE FRSE MRIA FRHistS (born 30 July 1945), is a Scottish academic historian.

Devine's main research interest is the history of the Scottish nation since c. 1600 and its global connections and impact. He is regarded as the leading authority on the history of modern Scotland and its diaspora.

Devine was born in Motherwell, Scotland. He was educated at the University of Strathclyde from 1964 to 1968, and graduated with first class honours in Economic and Social History, followed by a PhD and DLitt. He rose through the academic ranks from Assistant Lecturer to Reader, Professor, Head of Department, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; he was Deputy Principal of Strathclyde University from 1993 until 1997. He was appointed to the Sir William Fraser Chair of Scottish History and Palaeography at the University of Edinburgh in 2005.

In 1998 he accepted the Directorship of the world's first Centre of advanced research in Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen (the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies), which was formally inaugurated by President Mary McAleese of Ireland on St Andrew's Day 1999. Over the following five years, over £2.5m was raised for the Centre's research programmes from AHRC – which led to the establishment of the AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, funded competitively over 2 phases – the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy, and a further £1.6m endowment given by the Glucksman family in the USA for a Research Chair in Irish and Scottish Studies, which Devine held as Founding Professor until 2005.

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