Aisling Reid

Fulbright All-Disciplines Scholar Award - Columbia University

Aisling Reid teaches medieval studies at Queen's University Belfast, where she attained her PhD after earlier degrees at Durham University. Her research explores medieval devotional culture and the artworks it produced, with a particular interest in medieval confraternities, Marian imagery and the sensory theology of sacred objects. At Columbia University in New York, Aisling will be based at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where her project 'From Relics to Unicorns: Medieval Oddities in New York' will promote Columbia's unique medieval collections to wider public audiences. She will explore university’s archives to uncover how their medieval objects found new lives in American hands. Her Fulbright award will allow her to build new collaborations across the city, lead teaching sessions that bring medieval manuscripts to life for Columbia students and spark fresh interest in these remarkable holdings. Aisling is also a keen painter; she looks forward to weekends at the Met and MoMA, as well as finding time for her own work at the easel!