Dr Joni Buchanan is a native of Mangersta in the Uig area of Lewis. She graduated in Economic History from the University of Strathclyde and gained a PhD from the Universities of Aberdeen and the Highlands and Islands. Her doctoral thesis, From Gàidhealtachd Community to Shared Space, followed the transition within her own home community over the post-war era, and identified measures necessary for retaining population and maintaining the Gaelic language. Dr Buchanan worked as a researcher and writer and is the author of The Lewis Land Struggle and Women of the Hebrides / Ban-Eileanaich Innse Gall.