Research

In June 2015 I was awarded a PhD in classical archaeology and museum studies. My thesis, entitled 'The Role of Collections of Classical Antiquities in UK Regional Museums: Visitors, Networks, Social Contexts', is available for download from UCL Discovery.

My research was based in the Institute of Archaeology at UCL and funded by the AHRC. It explored the role of collections of classical antiquities in UK regional museums, looking at the uses made of these collections and their benefits for a wide range of users. The question of value and relevance for today’s museum visitors was set into the context of the collections’ history. What was the original impulse and vision of the collectors or curators who assembled these artefacts? How does that compare with the aims of their twenty-first-century curators, and how does it affect the way the collections are perceived today? The research took a qualitative approach and involved periods of intensive fieldwork at six case study museums.

Following the completion of my PhD, I began researching the reception history of a sculpture of a nymph and satyr in the British Museum's collection, with a focus on it as a representation of sexual violence. I originally presented this research at the Classical Association conference on 28th April 2017 and it has now been published in an edited volume (see publications).

In 2018, I undertook a consultancy project for King's College London, to produce a report on the impact of the exhibition The Classical Now, to feed into a REF impact case study.

From late 2018 to 2019, my research was concentrated on the preparation of the exhibition and publication on Troy (see publications), as part of my full-time role at the British Museum. 

Following my return to catalogue management, my research thinking is now focused on the intersection of my interests in collecting histories, the social role of museums, and networks, in the context of museum documentation. I gave a paper entitled 'In a relationship: network, contexts, databases' at the Museums and Galleries History Group conference in summer 2021. 

I was an Impact Assessor on the Classics sub-panel for REF2021. 


Academic background

2015  PhD Classical Archaeology and Museum Studies, UCL 

2001  MA Museum Studies, UCL, Distinction

2000  BA (Hons) Classics, University of Oxford (University College), First