Dr Mackay, a specialist in Scottish and Irish poetry of the 20th and 21st centuries and their place within 'English' literature, is joined in the 2015 list by fellow Thinkers from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Sheffield and Liverpool John Moores, as well as the V&A. The New Generation Thinkers were announced at the annual literary and arts festival, the Hay Festival (Sunday 24 May 2015).
The New Generation Thinkers scheme aims to develop a new generation of academics who can bring the best of university research and scholarly ideas to a broad audience – through BBC broadcasting.