Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Smithsonian Journeys Expert Colleen Batey, recently retired from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She now holds honorary positions at the University of the Highlands and Islands, University of Durham  and Hunter College, New York. For the past 40 years she has been involved in research on the Viking Age in Scotland, Scandinavia, and the North Atlantic, both as director of excavations and teacher. Since 2004, Colleen has combined her research interests with expedition cruising, both as expedition team member and guest lecturer – travelling extensively throughout the world of the Vikings from the Black Sea to Canada! This has included a number of SJ-sponsored voyages in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. Colleen was the British coordinator of Viking loan material for the highly successful Smithsonian exhibition Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, which toured widely in the U.S. starting in 2000 and attracted several million visitors throughout its run. More recently she was an academic advisor for a PBS/BBC programme “Uncovering the Vikings,” which aired in early 2016. Colleen has published extensively both books and journal articles. She is now based in Orkney, her 18th century home has stunning views of Scapa Flow!