Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Dr. Colleen Batey recently retired from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where she was a senior lecturer in archaeology.  For the past 40 years, Colleen has been involved in research on the Viking Age in Scotland, Scandinavia, and the North Atlantic, serving as director of excavations and teaching. She 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 “Uncovering the Vikings,” a PBS/BBC program that aired in 2016. She holds honorary positions at the University of the Highlands and Islands, the University of Durham, and Hunter College, New York, and has published numerous books and journal articles.  Since 2004, Colleen has combined her research interests with expedition cruising, both as expedition team member and guest lecturer, traveling extensively throughout the world of the Vikings from the Black Sea to Canada. She has accompanied a number of Smithsonian Journeys voyages in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. She is now based in Orkney, where her 18th-century home has stunning views of Scapa Flow!