My broad area of expertise is ancient Greek society and culture, with specific focus on ancient Greek religion and magic. I have published monographs on oracles, curse tablets and binding spells, concepts of fate, luck and fortune, and the social emotions surrounding ‘witchcraft’ trials in classical Athens. I am the series editor with Hugh Bowden (KCL) of Ancient Religion and Cognition for Cambridge University Press, and, with Katherina Lorenz (Giessen) and Anna Collar (Southampton), of Ancient Environments for Bloomsbury Academic. With Luther Martin (Vermont) I founded the Journal of Cognitive Historiography.

I take an interdisciplinary approach to research, employing cognitive and anthropological theories to investigate ancient evidence, with particular interest in questions about social emotions, the concept of the individual and ideas of the self, network theory, and the socio-cultural power of narrative. I am currently working on projects exploring narratives and environmental risk; myth and landscape; the idea of 'belief'; and concepts of change in the ancient world. I was the Principal Investigaor of the AHRC-funded Virtual Reality Oracle project, leading an interdisciplinary team building a VR experience of consultation at the oracle of Zeus, at Dodona.

Much of my work is informed by a broader curiosity about how different cultures respond to not knowing about the future (raising questions about responses to uncertainty, risk, and decision making). I have given (written) evidence to the House of Lords Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee (2021), and collaborated on a project funded by 'Engineering X' (a collaboration of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd's Register Foundation) on complex systems.

My interests in this area are shaped by my career before academia, when I worked as an editor and writer, specializing in scenarios and strategy for business, governments and international organisations, such as UNAIDS. I still work with some of my business and strategy colleagues on related questions—e.g., what makes a narrative about the future seem plausible--and work with businesses, especially SMEs, on narrative and story-telling. 

I was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2024.

Supervision: I have supervised PGR theses on (among other topics) the development and transmission of cult, cognitive approaches to Dionysiac ritual, and the Athenian environment in an NIE framework. Current thesis topics include studies of changes in representations of mythical figures and ancient expressions of experiences of grief. 

I welcome applications from prospective postgraduate students with research interests in any aspect of archaic and classical Greek society and culture, particularly, but not limited to, ancient Greek religion and/or magic, myth, historiography, cognitive humanities, history of emotions.

I have been nominated for the Bristol Student Award for Outstanding Supervision of Research Students in 2018/19 (shortlisted), 2019/2020, and 2023/4, and nominated for the Outstanding Personal Tutoring Award - Individual, in 2021/22 and the Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award in 2022/23.

Office: 11 Woodland Road, Room 1.34 A.