Postgraduate Research

Listed below are all current Classics & Archaeology research students with a brief biography and description of their research project. To contact research postgraduates, search for their email addresses using the Central University Email Directory.

William Anderson (Oxford, 1979) is a PhD student researching settlement patterns in late antique Anatolia, based on archaeological surveys in central and northern Turkey. His special interests include pottery analysis, landscape archaeology and the ethics and politics of archaeology. He has published articles on Byzantine material culture, medieval pilgrimage and the history of collecting and has worked on excavations in Europe and Turkey.

Andrea Argirides is a PhD Candidate, researching island archaeology in the Mediterranean. This research project will aim to contribute to academic knowledge on the integration of land and seascapes and their influence on land-based and maritime activities of ancient peoples in Cyprus. The thesis title is ‘Seascapes and Maritime Cultural Landscapes of LBA/EIA Cyprus.’ She holds a number of Postgraduate and Masters qualifications from the University of Melbourne and has published various articles in health program evaluation, naval and military history.

Fred Bendeich took a degree in Science (in Sydney), and then worked in commerce. On retirement he enrolled to study Ancient Greek and gained a postgraduate diploma in Arts. He is now working on an MA thesis on religion in Herodotus and Thucydides under the supervision of Dr. C.J. Mackie.

Bradly Billings has degrees in Theology and Ministry and is an ordained Anglican priest in Melbourne. His PhD thesis on the social circumstances of early Christianity in the Roman Empire was published in 2006. He is currently working on an MA thesis examining the material and social aspects of housing in Roman Ephesus.

Jessie Birkett-Rees is researching the changing archaeological landscapes of the Kura valley in Southern Caucasia for her PhD on ‘Archaeological Landscapes of Southern Caucasia.’ Her research addresses the regions of Tbilisi, the capital of the modern Republic of Georgia, and Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the Iberian kingdom. Jessie is jointly enrolled in Geomatics and holds an Arts and Sciences degree majoring in Archaeology and Earth Sciences.

Susan Bunting is currently researching her second PhD. Her topic is ‘Poets and Their Patrons in Ancient Greece.’ Susan's first degree was in Classics and she followed this with a degree in Law from ANU. While working as a lawyer she completed a Master of Music at the ANU and after that an interdisciplinary PhD in law and music at the University of Melbourne. After completing her PhD Susan studied Classics at Merton College Oxford for a year, gaining a Master of Studies. When not researching her PhD, Susan plays the cello and the piano.

Leanne Campbell completed her BA Hons. at Melbourne in 2007 with her thesis, ‘The Emergence of Humanity: the Controversy over Fossils,’ combining Archaeology and H.P.S. Her proposed MA thesis title is ‘Knowing Our Ancestors: Interpreting Ancient Cultures Through Figurines and Iconographies.’ Leanne has had two journal articles published, on interpretations of eastern Mediterranean zoomorphic and therianthropic figurines.

Dean Coffield Smith is an MA candidate in archaeology. He is interested in Cypriot, Aegean, and Levantine interconnections. His MA thesis is investigating Cypriot wall brackets: context, function, and ethnicity.

Chris Coney (Melbourne, 1960) BA Hons, LLB Hons (Monash), BLitt (Hons) and MA in history (Melbourne) is now writing an MA on Plato’s Gorgias, an important dialogue on the nature of political philosophy. Leo Strauss and his followers have shown that the writings of Greek thinkers, especially Plato and Aristotle, have enormous contemporary relevance.

Sam Crooks holds B.Mus. and B.A. (Hons) degrees from the University of Melbourne. He is currently researching a Masters thesis entitled ‘What are these queer stones? Minoan baetyls: a contextual analysis.’ Sam’s research interests include archaeological theory, prehistoric cult, materiality and Aegean Bronze Age archaeology.

Sarah Davidson is researching Roman geographical conceptions and ethnography of Gaul for her MA on 'Mapping Out Gaul in Julius Caesar's Gallic War.' She is a Melbourne University graduate BMus/BA (Hons.).

Brent Davis (Idaho USA, 1956) is researching the rituals, scripts and languages of Bronze-Age Crete for his PhD on 'Inscribed Minoan Ritual Vessels'. He holds a BA in Linguistics from Stanford University, and Graduate and Postgraduate Diplomas in Classics and Archaeology from the University of Melbourne. He has published articles on both archaeological and linguistic topics.

Kristal Jade Flemming is a PhD candidate. Her thesis title is ‘Greek and Carian relations during Saite Egypt.’

Sarah Gador-Whyte is researching the sixth-century hymnographer Romanos the Melodist for her PhD on Romanos' classical connections and Greco-Syrian relations in religious poetry. She holds a BASc and BA(Hons) from the University of Melbourne. She is also interested in historiography and has published on Byzantine historiography and its connections to the classical tradition.

Amanda Goldfarb is researching ancient astronomy in Phoenician and Canaanite contexts for her MA thesis. She holds a BA(Hons)/BSc from the University of Melbourne, with majors in physics and archaeology. Her research interests lie in ancient religion, ritual sites and archaeoastronomy.

Geoff Irvin is a PhD candidate researching the economy of a Mesopotamian city in Syria via the bone materials found there. He has worked on digs in Australia, England and the Middle East. He previously worked in the Bio-deterioration Unit at CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products (publishing in this field), The National Museum in Sydney and has volunteered at Museum Victoria. His PhD project explores the material changes at Tell Ahmar, Syria, largely across the Bronze and Iron Age spectra.

Rod Jones is completing a PhD on ‘The Enigma of Shame: Women and Honour in Homer and Mediterranean Anthropology.’ He is currently a Lecturer in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, where he teaches Creative Writing. He is the author of five novels. He has also published short stories, essays, journalism and travel writing.

Yolande Kerridge (currently on leave) is researching Bronze Age Cult in Anatolia for her PhD. She has a BSc (Hons.) from La Trobe University and a BA and MA from the University of Melbourne. The topic of her Master’s thesis was ‘The psychosocial function of food and consumption in Archaic and Classical Greece’.

Katsuji Kobayashi began his PhD in 2005, researching obsidian trading systems in Eastern Turkey and Trans-Caucasia during the late prehistoric periods. His research addresses, in particular, the obsidian procurement activities in the regions where obsidian sources exist.

Damjan Krsmanovic is a MA student currently researching the extent of cultural interconnections between Neolithic Anatolia and Bronze Age Crete in his thesis. His other research interests include theoretical perspectives and their practical application in archaeology, and archaeology of the Near East and Anatolia.

Andrew Madden is compiling a corpus of Early Byzantine church floor mosaics from Israel and the Palestinian Territories for his PhD, with a particular interest in attempting to identify specific workshops and the potential implications this holds for providing a comprehensive dating system for the mosaics. He has a BA Hons. in Art History and Archaeology from La Trobe University.

Erin McGowan is a MA candidate researching Bronze Age Aegean glyptic iconography for her thesis entitled ‘In the eye of the beholder: ambiguity in the iconography of Minoan Neopalatial seals and sealings.’ She holds a BA (Hons.) majoring in Archaeology from the University of Melbourne. Erin is assisting in the Knossos Urban Landscape Project being conducted by the British School at Athens and University College London in 2007 and 2008.

Aleksandra Michalewicz is an MA student. Her thesis title is 'Demigods at Troy: Reflections on Hybridity'.

Sarah Midford: Sarah’s MA focuses on the changes that occurred in the purpose of the triumphal procession over the course of the Roman republican period until Augustus used triumphal imagery as the iconography of imperial rule. Other research interests include the presence of ancient spectacle in subsequent cultures.

Peter Mountford (Birmingham, UK, 1940) is researching the attitude of the writers of the Augustan age towards the Etruscans for his PhD. He is a retired teacher with a love of all things Greek, Roman and Etruscan. He completed an MA on Virgil's Aeneid in 2005 at the University of Melbourne. He has taught some Latin within the department.

Marcia Nugent is researching Bronze Age Aegean archaeology. The title of her PhD thesis is ‘Botanic Motifs in the Bronze Age Cyclades: Gender Ideology, Religion and Trade.’

James O'Maley is studying the Homeric Epics for an MA on ‘Intra-Familial Relationships in the Iliad and the Odyssey.’ He has a BA (Hons.) from Melbourne University, which included an honours thesis investigating the competitive relationship between Diomedes and his father Tydeus in the Iliad.

Jennifer O'Neill is researching for her PhD on the Early Helladic II architectural remains known as the House of Tiles, at the site of Lerna in the Peloponnese. She holds an MA from the University of Melbourne, for which she wrote a thesis on the Stamp Seals of Anatolia in the Fourth and Third Millennia BC.

Andrew Prentice (born 1973) holds a BA from La Trobe University and a BA Hons. from Melbourne University. He is researching the iconography on eyecups for his Masters, 'Representations of the Other on Late Archaic Athenian eyecups'. He has published an article on eyecups and his main interest is in Attic painted pottery from the Archaic Period.

Miriam Riverlea (Melbourne, 1981) has Honours and Masters degrees from the University of Melbourne, and is now undertaking her PhD, entitled ‘Telling Tales: Classical Mythology and Children’s Literature.’ Her previous and ongoing research explores the manifestations of the ancient world within contemporary contexts. Miriam has taught at Melbourne, Monash and Deakin Universities and is co-chair of the CCA Postgraduate Association.

Abby Robinson is investigating the role of the landscape in responses to the early Arab conquests in the Near East and Central Asia for her MA. She previously completed a BA (Hons.) and a BLitt (Hons.). She also works on computer applications designed to complement research in the humanities. She has a strong interest in multidisciplinary and collaborative projects.

Ros Rymer, for her MA, is researching urban design of the public realm in cities of the Roman Empire. Rymer holds a BAppSci. (Planning) from RMIT and the University of Waterloo (Canada), plus a MLArch and GDipArts (Class & Archae) from the University of Melbourne. Rymer’s principal interests are in the urban morphology and cultural life of the city.

Helen Slaney (Edinburgh, 1981) is researching an MA on Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. She completed Honours at Melbourne in 2007, writing on Ovid's Tristia. Eclectic research interests include ancient drama and performance (especially Senecan tragedy), reception studies and literary theory, ancient geography and spatial perception.

James Duncan Stratford BA (Hons.) (Melb.), MA (Melb.), MSA (ANU) has worked principally on the Iliad, looking at aspects of Achilles' journey, alongside some of the masterpieces of Indian and Japanese cinema, including Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. After reading for a Masters in Strategic Affairs (defence and international affairs) at the ANU he has been looking into the role of spectacle in ancient and modern war. This work is the subject of his doctoral thesis. He has also studied, published, and worked on strategic policy and defence issues.

Estelle Strazdins is a PhD candidate researching fame and posterity in second sophistic literature. She holds MA and BLitt (Hons.) degrees, both completed at the University of Melbourne. She has published articles on comparative mythology, particularly the connections between Greek myth and early Jewish apocalyptic. Estelle is currently spending a year as a visiting student at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Emma Strugnell is PhD candidate in the School of Historical Studies, under the supervision of Prof. Ron Ridley. Her thesis considers Romano-Parthian diplomatic history for the period 92 BC-AD 225, and the possible influence of the battle of Carrhae (53BC) on subsequent Romano-Parthian relations. Emma also has a BSc/BA (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne and was the Fellow of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens for 2005-6.

Elizabeth Thyer completed her BSc (Melbourne) followed by an honours year at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine focusing on cervical spine injuries of road traffic accident victims. Her PhD, undertaken between the CCA and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, focuses on the physical anthropological analysis of five archaeological sites in Anatolia. She took a break from her thesis to become a paramedic, but recently returned to her research. She currently lectures in paramedic studies at Victoria University.

Conor Trouw is an MA candidate in archaeology. He is investigating the relationship between ethics, politics, funding, interpretation, and archaeology with a focus on the “City of David” excavations in Jerusalem.

Ben Watson is researching Pleistocene rock art and portable art for his PhD thesis on human neuropsychology and recurrent conventions in world palaeoarts. He holds a BA Hons from Melbourne University, and has published articles on various aspects of prehistoric art.

Lorrenne Wilks is an MA candidate in archaeology. She is investigating spatial syntax in north Syrian architecture with a focus on the site of Alalakh.

Suzette Williams was born in Melbourne. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (B.A. Drama (acting) 1982) and completed Honours in pure classics at The University of Melbourne. She is currently undertaking a Masters by Research in Classics and Archaeology at Melbourne. Her area of research is the role of automata in Greek literature.

Jenny Wilson worked as a librarian then a social worker before completing an honours degree in Classics at the University of Newcastle. She is now completing a PhD on the wall paintings of processions from the Greek Late Bronze Age, focussing on implications for gendered activities and gender status in that period.

Sonya Wurster (Melbourne, 1981) holds a Masters degree from the University of Melbourne. She has recently started a PhD on ‘Genre, Identity and Place in Greek and Roman Literature of the Early Imperial Period’ in which she is exploring the various ways that 'Greek' and 'Roman' identities are articulated in different literary forms.

Lindsay Neale Zoch (Mildura, 1960) is writing a doctoral thesis on Virgil's style in the Aeneid, specifically his use of certain figures of speech to generate pathos. He has a B.A., B.Litt., Dip. Ed., and M.A from the University of Melbourne, and he taught Latin at Geelong College for ten years until 2006. The subject of his M.A. thesis, completed in 1997, was Platonic love.