Personal profile
Biography
I am originally from Bangor, Co Down and studied at Queen's University Belfast (BSc (Hons) Geography, Archaeology-Palaeoecology, MSc Professional Archaeology, and PhD Archaeology). I completed postdoctoral fellowships at KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs) and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland, funded by TCD) before I started teaching archaeology and heritage studies at The University of Sheffield (UK). I held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship at Aarhus University (Denmark) before joining UCC in September 2023 as lecturer in Radical Humanities and Archaeology. As a buildings archaeologist, I am interested primarily in the built environment of medieval Europe and have written about English lodging ranges, castles and great houses, and Irish tower houses and round towers. I am interested in how buildings were the products of social norms and expectations and how, in return, they were agents that shaped everyday life. I am equally interested in the role of historic buildings in our contemporary society and have explored the impacts of climate change on our built heritage in Ireland, Scotland and Denmark. I have written and published on the important role of heritage in climate communication and climate action, and I continue to work on the topic in West Cork.
External positions
Grant Committee Member, Castle Studies Trust
2025 → …
Reviews Editor, Society for Medieval Archaeology
2023 → …
Editorial Board Member, Society for Medieval Archaeology
2014 → …
UCC Futures (primary)
- Future Humanities Institute
Other research affiliations
- UCC Futures - Future Humanities Institute (incl. RHL)
- UCC Futures - Collective Social Futures
- UCC Futures - Sustainability Institute
PhD Supervision
- Available for PhD supervision
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
-
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
-
SDG 13 Climate Action
-
SDG 15 Life on Land
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Gary M. Feinman & T. Douglas Price (ed.). 2025. The future of archaeology. New York (NY): Eliot Werner; 979-8-9912264-9-3 paperback $32.95.
Kerr, S., 18 Feb 2026, In: Antiquity.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
-
Local and community action with global scope: a response to Davies & Lunn-Rockliffe
Kerr, S., Feb 2026, In: Antiquity.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Chapter 5. The Moving Manors and Adaptation in Sixteenth-Century Denmark
Kerr, S., 15 Aug 2025, Nordic Climate Histories: Impacts, Pathways, Narratives. White Horse PressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedings › Chapter › peer-review
Open Access -
Meteorological Disasters in Medieval Britain (AD 10001500). Archaeological, Historical and Climatological Perspectives within a Wider European Context
Kerr, S., 2025, In: Medieval Archaeology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Mythologizing the Past. Archaeology, History, and Ideology
Kerr, S., 2025, In: Medieval Archaeology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access
Press/Media
-
Just Stop Oil Drew Needed Attention To Climate-Threatened Stonehenge
26/06/24 → 27/06/24
7 items of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
Just Stop Oil Drew Needed Attention To Climate-Threatened Stonehenge
26/06/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
Study Results from University College Cork Provide New Insights into Archaeology (The Battle for 'Authentic' Heritage: The Case of the Dobbins Restoration)
26/06/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
Climate crisis is major risk to coastal heritage: Can this inspire action?
11/06/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
Irish castles and ancient Greek rites show culture’s role in regional regeneration
10/04/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media