The encyclopedia was founded in 2004.[2][3] In 2017, Susan Ross was hired by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) to develop and promote the encyclopedia, a part time position that lasted 12 months. The NLS intended to augment its Gaelic resources following a digitization drive that put Gaelic-language materials on the Internet. Ross is a second-language speaker of Gaelic who learned the language as a teenager and completed a doctorate in Gaelic studies. She has been editing Uicipeid since 2010.[4][3][5] Working with community groups, she created help pages and worked to attract more editors.[2][5] The grant was sponsored by Wikimedia UK and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.[3]
At one point, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig offered a module teaching students how to edit Uicipeid.[6]