My research specialises in the history and culture of classical antiquity and how this intersects with new media, in particular video games, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI).

I have explored these themes in a variety of ways, from publications on video games as a new form of public history (Mashing Up History and Heritage in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), to those that look at the relationship between Classics, games, and gender (Kassandra's Odyssey) and the role of paratexts in historical video games (Unboxing Age of Empires: Paratexts and the Experience of Historical Strategy Games). From 2020-2023, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the multidisciplinary, AHRC-funded project The Virtual Reality Oracle (VRO): An Immersive Experience of the Ancient Greek Oracle at Dodona, which created a ground-breaking VR experience of ancient divination that aims to improve educational outcomes in schools. I have also published on historical fiction more broadly, the topic of my PhD (University of Bristol, 2019), looking at how the genre inserts the ambiguities of art into historical representations (Breaking the Frame in Historical Fiction). 

My forthcoming work includes an essay exploriong how questions regarding the authorship of the Iliad and Odyssey can help us better understand AI generated texts today (The Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature), a chapter on immersion in what I call 'virtual antiquity', and a special issue for Rethinking History on Virtual Realities as Time Travel. Current projects include Game Conscious™ Characters - a MyWorld Collaborative Research and Development project with industry lead Meaning Machine that involves R&D in generative AI systems for in-game characters.

My research has also been instrumental in establishing the Bristol Digital Game Lab (2022), which I co-direct. Based in the Faculty of Arts, Law, and Social Sciences at the University of Bristol, the Lab brings together researchers and practitioners from a radically diverse range of perspectives, including history, translation, comparative literature, film and television, law, computer science, AI, game design, and beyond. The Lab has succeeded in charting new possibilities for collaboration, both across disciplines and between Higher Education and the gaming industry, with digital games as a shared object of interest.

In 2024/25, I am teaching Exploring the Roman Cityscape (CLAS20070), where I am using a variety of digital models and VR experiences to consider how architecture and space can help us to understand a society and its culture, as well as Roman Imperial Culture (CLAS20062). I am also supervising several undergraduate dissertations on Classics and video games.

At postgradaute level, I am co-supervising five projects currently. This includes a dissertation on representations of the Bronze Age in video games, and theses on the philosophy of history in the SoulsBorne Games, game design and Greek myth, the reception of Carthage in historical strategy games, and developing heritage content for Microsoft Flight Simulator for enhanced engagement. I am always interested in hearing from potential applicants working on the relationship between the ancient world and new media today.