Helen Fulton trained as a medievalist in English and Celtic Studies, focusing on literary and linguistic history. She specialises in medieval Welsh literature and its connections with the literatures of medieval England and Ireland. Her main research areas are the history and politics of medieval literature, book history, Arthurian literature, medieval urban literature, and cultural exchanges between England and Wales in the Middle Ages. She has also published on Welsh and Irish literatures of the twentieth century and on the language of the media. Helen is an active member of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol and the leader of the CMS research cluster, 'Borders and Borderlands' (https://www.bordersandborderlands.ac.uk/).

Current projects include an edition of medieval Welsh political poetry and a monograph on literary representations of the city in medieval British literature. She is also leading a large ERC/UKRI project on the medieval March of Wales, looking at networks of manuscripts and people in the context of this border culture.

Contact

Room 1.11, 3-5 Woodland Road, Consultation Hours

(0117) 455 2672, helen.fulton@bristol.ac.uk

Please email me to arrange an appointment.

Research Supervision

I would welcome applications from graduate students wanting to work in any of these areas: (1) Celtic Studies including literature, history, or language of any period relating to the Celtic-speaking countries; (2) medieval English literature; (3) medieval historical, political and/or prophetic writing; (4) Arthurian literature of any period; (5) the postmedieval or modern reception of medieval literature.

Other information

A graduate of the universities of Sydney and Oxford, Helen Fulton has held Visiting Research Fellowships at Magdalen College, Oxford, St John’s College, Oxford, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. She has over 100 publications, including 10 authored or edited books, and has convened 3 major international conferences as well as organising numerous sessions at international conferences in the UK and US. She has delivered more than 12 keynote addresses and many invited presentations and conference papers in the UK, US, South Africa, and Australia. She was a long-standing member of the AHRC Peer Review College, including serving as an Institutional Reviewer for the AHRC, and has extensive experience of peer reviewing for grant-awarding bodies, publishers, and REF audits.

Helen has been involved in a a number of research projects in the UK and Australia, acting as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on 18 funded projects (British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, AHRC, Australian Research Council, ERC).

Helen has extensive experience of academic leadership. Formerly Head of the Department of English and Director of Research in the School of Humanities, she was Faculty of Arts Director of Research in 2021–2022. Other roles include Head of the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York, Head of the School of Arts at Swansea University, Pro-Dean in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Sydney, and founding Director of three research centres.

Helen has a significant record of service to research in Wales. She served as Vice President HASS (Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) of the Learned Society of Wales (2020–2026) and was a long-standing member of the Advisory Board of the University of Wales Press (until 2026). She is currently a member of the Research and Innovation Committee of the Welsh Government.

Helen is the General Editor of the series Borders, Boundaries and Landscapes, published by Brepols, and the Series Co-Editor of New Century Chaucer, a book series published by the University of Wales Press. She sits on a number of editorial boards, including the Bristol Series in Medieval Cultures, published by Boydell and Brewer. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a Fellow and Member of Council of the Learned Society of Wales. She is a Trustee of the Historic Towns Trust and of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion.

Helen uses her research skills to engage with communities through media (including appearances on In Our Time on BBC Radio 4) and community projects, including historical maps of Bristol, Swansea, and Brecon/Hay, which she has developed in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust and local history societies.