About us
Arke acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our various contributors are based, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and future.
Meet our contributors!
These wonderful people donate their time to write posts and inspire with their contributions to ancient world studies
Dr Aimee Turner (she/her)
Aimee is a classicist who recently completed her PhD at Macquarie University, investigating the literary construction of Livia from antiquity to the early modern period. Her research interests include early Roman imperial history, imperial consorts, gender and the literary representation of women, and the reception of antiquity, particularly in the medieval period.
In addition, she is keenly interested in pedagogical practices and how we can improve the teaching of ancient world studies, making it more relevant for today’s world. Working as a learning skills adviser and a learning designer, she’s helped improve the learning and teaching of a number of fields and she’s eager to bring these skills to our field.
Ewan Coopey
Ewan is a Macquarie University History and Archaeology PhD candidate and sessional academic. His research interests centre around archaeology and community, identity and agency, particularly in relation to Roman military spaces and the southeastern European provinces. He wants to increase public engagement and is interested in the application of digital tools, namely database design and data management. He endeavours to contribute towards the development of better digital practices within archaeology, epigraphy and history. He is also an assistant at the Centre for Applied History where he is working on several websites related to public history projects.
Lauren Murphy
Lauren is a PhD candidate at La Trobe University in Melbourne. Her research primarily involves analysing documentary sources for Renaissance collections of ancient Greek and South Italian vases.
Dr Tegan Gleeson
Tegan Gleeson is a Classics PhD graduate at the University of Tasmania, where she researched verecundia, Roman emotion, and consolation. She graduated with first class honours and a University Medal from the University of New England, where she completed her Bachelor of Historical Inquiry and Practice and Graduate Certificate Arts (Classical Languages.) In 2020, Tegan was awarded a UTAS Teaching Merit Certificate for her work as a sessional tutor in HTC104, Introduction to Ancient Rome, and at ASCS42 she was proud to receive the OPTIMA prize for her paper, Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep: Consolation in Ovid’s Tristia.
Tegan is passionate about education, and in 2021 ran an online introductory Latin program (funded by CANSW’s Ian McLeod award) at Grafton High School. She is kept warm in Nipaluna by her two dogs, Neffa & Argos.
Dr Connie Skibinski
Connie Skibinski recently completed a PhD (Classics) at The University of Newcastle, having completed a Bachelor of Arts with joint Honours in Ancient History and Ancient Greek at The University of Sydney. Her primary research interest is Greco-Roman mythology and the adaptation of ancient mythology from the Medieval period to the contemporary era. Connie is currently co-editing three edited volumes (on Xena, Wonder Woman and ancient women) and has a forthcoming article on the Amazons in contemporary media for Thersites. She is currently working on a contracted monograph on Amazons in Medieval literatures.
Shona Edwards
Shona Edwards is a Classics MPhil candidate at the University of Adelaide. She is interested in Latin love elegy, receptions studies and feminist theory. She is currently co-organising an Adelaide chapter for Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies (AWAWS). Shona is also a cancer and disability advocate and fights for disability equity in higher education.
Penelope Carpentier
Penelope Carpentier is a PhD candidate at Macquarie University, and her research focuses on social imaginaries produced by people in the region of Syria and Phoenicia under Ptolemaic rule. After completing her Masters in Research with distinction (on the political power of the Jerusalem temple prior to the outbreak of the Maccabean revolt), she lectured for three years in biblical interpretation and ancient languages at the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary in Windhoek, Namibia.