Dr Martha McGill, Emmanuel

mm2933@cam.ac.uk

 

Biographical Information

I completed my PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2016, with a thesis entitled ‘Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland’. I subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Edinburgh, and the Warburg Institute, London. Between 2018 and 2024 I was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Warwick, with a project entitled ‘Bodies, Selves and the Supernatural in Early Modern Britain’. I joined the Faculty of English at Cambridge in 2025, and also became a College Research Associate at Emmanuel College.

I have taught at the universities of Edinburgh, York, Warwick and Cambridge, as well as for Pomona College, California.

Research Interests

I am a Research Associate on the interdisciplinary project ‘When Memories Come Alive’, which brings together humanities scholars and cognitive scientists to explore the subjective experience of remembering. I am working on accounts of memories within early modern British life writing.

I am also a historian of early modern supernatural beliefs. I have published on ghosts, demons, witchcraft, angels, providence and the afterlife. I have broader interests in early modern cultural and intellectual history, and the history of the body.

In addition, I am interested in the practices of pedagogy and public engagement. I am a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, and have led or co-led multiple engagement projects. I have appeared on various radio shows, podcasts and documentaries, including for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Scotland, National Geographic and Dan Snow's History Hit, and have published multiple articles in outlets including BBC History Magazine and The Conversation.