The career of the “inspirational” academic Professor Charles McKean was celebrated at a major conference in Perth at the weekend.
Professor McKean, emeritus professor of Scottish architectural history at Dundee University, died earlier this month aged 67.
Entitled A New Platform for Scottish Renaissance Studies, the conference had been planned before Professor McKean’s death and sought to bring together disparate strands of research undertaken over the past decade.
Professor McKean had been at the forefront of this field of study and his findings helped to bring about a re-evaluation of Scotland’s cultural achievements during the period and the role played by Scotland in the European Renaissance.
Renowned academics from across Europe presented papers at the conference alongside prominent Scottish academics. Delegates included many of Professor McKean’s past colleagues and students.
Conference organiser Sue Hewer said: “I received an email from Charles two weeks before his death, in which he expressed a wish that the conference should go ahead because he was passionate about Scottish Renaissance studies and wanted this conference to herald a new era in the field.
“He was an inspirational figure in the world of academia for decades, both in terms of his research and his teaching.
“Charles was always very supportive of new researchers so we’re delighted that an award from the RSE is enabling PhD students and early-career researchers to present at the conference and attend as delegates.
“The weekend was a celebration of his work as well as a call for other academics to build on his legacy. The fact that delegates attended from abroad reflects the esteem that the academic world held him in.”
During the conference architect and architectural historian Dr James Simpson OBE paid tribute to Professor McKean, ahead of a dinner to celebrate his contribution to Scottish Renaissance studies.
The professor was the foremost authority on Scottish architectural history and his distinguished career also saw him appointed architecture correspondent for the Times newspaper and chairman of the Unesco Edinburgh World Heritage Trust.
In 1995 he was appointed head of the School of Architecture at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of Dundee University, before taking up his position as professor of Scottish architectural history in the university’s history department in 1997.
Professor McKean was a passionate advocate of preserving Dundee’s architectural history and led hundreds of walking tours of the city over the past two decades. The university will host its own memorial event for the professor later this year.