Student profiles

Postgraduate Students in the Classics Department

•  For a list of our current Postgraduate Students in Classics, please follow the link.

Former Postgraduate Students 

Nathan Elkins

I completed the MA in the City of Rome in 2003. Immediately after that I began a PhD program at the University of Missouri. I finished all of my doctoral coursework and exams in 2006 and began research for my dissertation with a DAAD grant in 2006-2007 that allowed me to work at the Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften at the Goethe Universität Frankfurt. After my fellowship expired, I was invited to return as a part-time employee for the Fundmünzen der Antike project and then six months later I was offered a regular position in the Institute to be a curator of the photo archive and the collection of plaster casts of ancient coins. In 2009 I became a postgraduate associate in the Department of Coins and Medals at the Yale University Art Gallery. In September 2010, I defended my PhD dissertation at the University of Missouri which also allowed me to be reclassified as a postdoctoral associate at Yale. I am also teaching an undergraduate, writing-intensive seminar on Sport and Spectacle in Greece and Rome in the Department of Classics at Yale College in Fall 2010. Presently, I am exploring the opportunities for other postdoctoral fellowships and tenure-track teaching and research positions.

I really enjoyed my time at Reading and feel that my experiences there helped to direct my research path and to prepare me for advanced research in the field. I am happy to hear that Classics at Reading continues to remain strong.

Michele Lucchesi

My name is Michele Lucchesi and I studied at the Department of Classics of the University of Reading in 2005/06, where I did an MA in Classics.

After having finished that course, I can safely say that my experience was great. Firstly, I would like to consider the quality of the relationships within the department. I met people - academic staff, colleagues, secretaries - with whom it was easy to establish a very friendly relationship from the beginning. Most of all, I could see that students are always the centre of everyone's attention. Lessons, seminars, preparation of exams and - last but not least - future study, research and/or work planning, everything is done in the students' own interests. This, I believe, is one of the strongest features of the Department of Classics in Reading.

To look more closely at academic life, I can be that the quality of teaching was very high. I learnt a new way of studying the classical subjects, different from what I had learnt in Italy. Moreover, I gained skills in planning academic research, fixing its different stages and bringing it to completion - all using the modern electronic sources that are available to scholars. From this point of view, the MA I did in Reading was extremely useful and has benefit me greatly.

I am still pursing my passion for Greek and Latin literature and now in Oxford, where I have begun a DPhil (PhD). But I can confirm that I made an excellent choice when I decided to go to the University of Reading for my MA. I recommend it to other students. If you want to study the ancient world in an environment where friendliness is combined with high professionalism, you should join the Department of Classics in Reading!'

Sarah Mayhew 

I'm Sarah Mayhew and I work as Publications and Events Assistant at the Institute of Classical Studies in London. I deal with order requests and payments for our publications and help with the proof reading of up and coming books. I am also responsible for designing and programming a client database enabling us to better track all orders, and I help with the organisation of seminars, lectures and conferences.

I graduated with a 2:1 BA in Ancient History at Reading in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed my time here. The BA provided me with a good background in ancient Greek and Roman history and I was encouraged by the department to continue my studies to MA level.

I chose to take the MA City of Rome at Reading primarily for the experience the compulsory module in Rome would give me. The opportunity to spend two months studying at the British School in Rome was one which any ancient historian would jump at. My undergraduate studies developed my enthusiasm for Roman religion and the time in Rome enabled me to see evidence of ancient beliefs first hand, furthering my research for my dissertation on Mithraism.

The MA course relies primarily on personal research backed by lectures. Lecturers within the Classics Department give some of these lectures and external historians are brought in to give presentations on more modern history. As part of this MA it is necessary to study either Latin or Italian; I chose to take Italian which I very much enjoyed. The IWLP Italian course is aimed at adults wishing to learn how to communicate quickly in their chosen language and this is definitely another very desirable aspect of the course.

This MA encourages independent research and is an excellent choice for those wanting to steer their own way through postgraduate studies. I graduated with a Merit overall.

Tessa Eaton

I started as an Assistant Production Editor at Oxford University Press nine months ago and have recently been promoted to a Production Editor. I am very busy right now working on 40 books, including Classics, Philosophy, and Religion titles. It's very good fun, but very tiring at the moment. I'm also having Ancient Greek lessons here, which is wonderful - I can't think why I didn't take up Greek sooner!

Helen Lamb

Since I completed my MA I have been working in a small publishing house in Notting Hill. I research and write for a publication called The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and really enjoy it.

Amy Watsham

I was just browsing the Classics homepage, reminiscing about the old place! The homepage looks very good I have to say and I did get a little too excited when I saw the title of my dissertation under the info on the City of Rome MA. Although sadly I've not had to use much of that knowledge recently, although I am sure I am making very good use of the skills - isn't that what they say! I'm in London now, even though I swore I would never move to the big smoke, but the job opportunities were too good to miss. I won't bore you with too much about what I do, but I spend 80% of my time working in Buckingham Palace coordinating the educational bookings for the Official Residences of The Queen, and the rest of the time working at Windsor Castle on a new project to develop a programme of activities for families during school holidays. I am running the pilot project next week! The job isn't exactly what I had in mind, although it does kind of involve old buildings! Still there are some perks and I'm happy for the time being.