Why study a PhD with us?

Our strengths in established approaches to the ancient world are coupled with expertise spanning Egyptian and Anatolian studies, early Islam, ancient linguistics, epigraphy, Roman economics, the reception of antiquity in the modern world, and more.

Learn more about our areas of expertise

As a PhD student, you’ll join our community of supportive and highly productive researchers, meeting like-minded students.

You can run your own work-in-progress seminars and participate in our weekly research seminars, as well as annual conferences that draw scholars from around the world.

Find out more about life in the Department

The Department of Classics holds a variety of historical resources of international importance, which you'll have access to during your studies.

These resources include our Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, which is based in the Department.

The wider University has two other on-site museums, as well as Special Collections – a substantial collection of rare books, archives and manuscripts that we encourage students to explore during their studies.

We also have strong links with the Centre for Hellenic Studies, Department of Archaeology, Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, Centre for Economic History, British School at Athens, and British School at Rome.

Our academics are acknowledged experts at the forefront of their disciplines and passionate about conveying their expertise. They offer postgraduate research supervision across the full spectrum of ancient history, Greek and Latin language and linguistics, literature, archaeology, epigraphy, art and culture.

Here are some examples of our academics and the research they are working on.

• In her study of late antiquity Dr Christa Gray pays close attention to the linguistic, social and archaeological contexts of ancient texts. An expert in the lives of saints, she is pursuing narratology. Christa is now developing an international late antique and medieval hagiography network with James Corke-Webster (University College London) and would welcome PhD students interested in hagiography, narratology and late antique prose more generally.
• Professor Annalisa Marzano's most recent research project – on the ideology and economy of Roman arboriculture and the multilevel links between plants and politics – developed from her interest in Roman gardens. She welcomes prospective PhD projects on any aspects of the Roman economy, especially as it relates to agricultural production, human-natural environment interaction, trade, and production processes.
• Professor Katherine Harloe is an expert on the history of classical scholarship and the reception of Greek and Roman antiquity in European transnational contexts, from the eighteenth century to the present, and on queer classics. While researching her forthcoming book on Winckelmann's love letters she supervised student work uncovering Berkshire's queer history. She is happy to supervise PhD projects on these and other aspects of classical reception as well as classical Greek literature, especially epic.

Learn more about our academics and their areas of expertise