Doctoral research in our department

We welcome higher degree research students exploring exciting theses across topics in Ancient History, Archaeology and Modern History.

Our research students are currently working on the following projects:

Student nameThesis title
Eleuterio Abreu De Sousa Egyptian Trade and the Levantine Cattle Economy during the Early Bronze Age (c. 3100–2100 BC)
Scott Allan The Second Dynasty: On the Cusp of the Pyramid Age
Lydia Bashford Egyptian Observations of the Avian World: Categorisation through human, bird, language, and landscape interactions
Timothy Blizzard Scipio Africanus, Marius and the Cohort: Innovation and Manoeuvre Warfare in the Republican Army
Elizabeth Brice Into the Wild: An examination of the function and significance of zoomorphic figurines in early Egypt
Ian Brown A prosopographical study of priests of the mansions of millions of years of the Ramesside period.
John Burke The Evolution of the False Door in the Egyptian Old Kingdom: A study of form and function over time
David Chapman A prosopographical study of officials associated with the Temples of Montu
Emily Corbin Reptile Relations: The Cultural Construction of Lizards in Ancient Egypt
Patricia Dean The Judahite Kingdom in the Shephelah in the Iron Age I–IIA
Ian DebenhamThe Roman shipbuilding industry
Loren DemolGraffiti as Decoration: The Relationship between Inscription and Surface in Pompeii
Joel DowlingSoka Making Saints into Soldiers: Case Studies in the Militarisation of Religious Figures in the Eastern Mediterranean from 600–1148 CE
Lauren Dundler Rethinking Engagement with and Consumption of the Past: An Ethical Framework for the 21st Century Antiquities Market
Suzanne Eiszele-Evans The Influences and Life of Mereruka Using Tomb Art
Joshua Errington Processes in the Site Formation of the City Of David ridge, Jerusalem
Martin Feltham A literary and historical analysis of the first letter to Timothy
Jenny Ferber Tribute to a Disappearing World: Abu al-Makarem’s account of Christendom
Graham Fitzpatrick Ethical Positions of Livy and Tacitus compared and contrasted
Gemma Green Divinity, Divergence and Dire Times: Egyptian Kings and the Fall of the Old Kingdom
John Guerra Between a Rock and a Hard Place: the History of Early Christianity Amid Rome and Judaism, Judea 30–66 CE
Laura Harris The welfare of ancient Egyptian livestock in the New Kingdom Period
Sophie Harris Metaphors and their Rhetorical Significance in Middle Egyptian Wisdom Literature
Michael Hayes‘Extending Egypt’s Limits’, Reaching New Frontiers: ‘Rethinking’ the New Kingdom’s Military and Dynastic, Religious and Philosophical Experiences and Discourses
Genevieve Holt Art as Social Object: Theoretical Approaches to the Depiction of Buildings in New Kingdom Egypt
Michael Ibrahim Memorialising Divine Suffering. The reception of Serverian Theopaschite Thought in Sixth Century Byzantium
Heather Johnston A Woman’s Work is Never Done: Societal change and the role of Women from the Old to the Middle Kingdom
Emma Kaula Dressing the Elamite Body: dress, its function, and experiences of dress in Elamite society between c. 4200 and 525 BC
Susan Kelly Female Engagement in Domains of Social Power in Ancient Egypt’s Dynasties 1–6: An interdisciplinary approach to women’s titles
Alexandra Kujanpaa Imperial Ceremonial in the Hippodrome at Constantinople from Constantine to Justinian (330–565 AD)
Shyam Lee-Joe The Interrelationship between the Viziers and their Subordinates in the Hierarchical Administrative Structure of the Old Kingdom of Egypt
Meg Lisle The involvement of women in ancient Egyptian religious practice from the old kingdom to the Ptolemaic period
Christine Mair Women of The Western Desert: Life in the Oases Villages of Egypt from Late Antiquity and Byzantine Period
Charlotte Mann Messages in Myth: Numismatic Self-Presentation in the Antonine Age
Rachel Mansfield A numismatic study of provinces of Syria in the era of the Severan Emperors
Dustin McKenzie The Strait of Messana in Roman Ideology: Identity, Landscape, and Imperialism
Emil Mihajlov The Greek Eastern Adriatic
Jane Milliken Wine for the Living: An Examination of Non-Religious Texts of the Ancient Egyptians that Contain References to Wine
Samantha Mills Does absence of iconography equal absence of rulership? Ruler ideology across the Mediterranean, Second Millennium BC
Nicole Moffatt A World both Small and Wide: the Letter-Bearer’s Journey from Cicero to Jerome
Natalie Mylonas Emotion, Space, and Power: Jerusalem as Contested Space in Ezekiel 16
Brikha Nasoraia A Critical Edition of the Mandaean DC 7 Diwan Nahrawatha, the Sacred Waterways/Rivers Scroll Translation, Commentary and a Study of Textual Archaeology, Mysticism and Traditional Esoteric Art and Symbolism of the Ancient Near East
Robert Parker A History and Chronology of the Governors of Beni Hassan during the Middle Kingdom
Aymie Paull The influence of the old kingdom on middle kingdom wall scenes: A case study of Beni Hassan and Meir
Susan Price A linguistic, codicological, and palaeographic study of MONB.FI
Carlos Robinson Uprisings in Alexandria: Civil Disobedience and Political Violence in Ptolemaic History
Wendy Robinson An examination of river boat transport as depicted in ancient Egyptian tomb scenes of the Old and Middle Kingdoms
Judy Simpson Livestock plagues in Rome: their origins, significance, and impact from the beginning of the Republic until the sixth century AD
Gillian Smith A Phenomenological Approach to Ancient Egyptian Festivals as Social, Aesthetic and Symbolic Events
Murray Smith Jesus and the final coming of God: The logic of early Christian “second coming” expectation and its origin in Jesus’ eschatological vision
Elizabeth Stockdale Female Values in the Odyssey
Lindsay Stoddart Reflections on the place of Christian women in Sydney society through the lens of Anglican Deaconess Ministries
Roshini Thomas Artistic Transmission in the sixth dynasty
Charles Thorne Justinian I and the early Byzantine civic bishop: a legislative history (6–8th centuries)
Aimee Turner Caesar’s Consort: Images of Livia from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
Lyndelle Webster Synchronising the Chronologies of the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant and Egypt: A Radiocarbon Dating Perspective
Student nameThesis title
John BurnThe A.R.I.D. Hypothesis. A River in Drought: Environmental and Cultural Ramifications of Old Kingdom Climate Change
Thérèse ClarkeIt’s a Long Way to the Top. Elite male leadership career trajectories and social status within Egypt’s provinces during the Old Kingdom
Rodney CrossClangores, stridores et sibili – animal sounds in ancient Latin literature from 55 BC to AD 180
Michael Deegan“Over Them Was King Ardban.” History, Narrative, the Haran Gawaita, and the Origin of the Mandaeans
David EvansChristians in Athens in the First Two Centuries: From Paul to Bishop Quadratus
James GersbachThe war cry in the ancient Mediterranean world
Lynn GrayThe Visitation in Australia: A Social History of a Christian Prophetic Movement
Eveline HandbyIllicit digital communities: Understanding the trade in fake antiquities on YouTube and Instagram
Deborah HopeLustre: The Pearl Trade In Antiquity
Mark KulikovskyA Broader Friendship: The Johannine Transformation of Philia into a ‘Fellowship of Truth and Love’
Katherine SheadA Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of Child Burial in Southern Mesopotamia from the EDII to Isin-Larsa Periods
Antonia St DemianaSahidic Coptic Leviticus: Its Manuscript Witnesses and Its Text
Samuel WesselsThe Language of the Old Greek Sections of Septuagint (LXX) Kingdoms
Student nameThesis title
Rodney BucktonPeople, Energy, Technology: Social and Economic Acceleration in Victoria, 1851–1914
Dominic Caron“Kill Japs, Kill Japs, Kill More Japs”: American and Australian attitudes towards the Japanese during the Second World War
Jack ClearA Transnational Study of Settler Colonial Warfare in the United States and Australia: Geronimo, Jandamarra, and the role of the Freedom Fighter
Adalia DraghiciRemote Warfare, and Warfare Via Remote: Shifting Civil-military Relations and Cultural Experiences of War in the US from Vietnam to the Gulf
Abbie HartmanWhen This is All Over and the War is Won They Will Remember Us: Public History, War and the Power of Memorialisation in Games
Alexandria HawkinsBreaking Silence: A History of Domestic Violence in Rural and Urban New South Wales, 1974–2016
Katharine HawkinsThe Other Woman: The Monstrous Feminine as Feminist Praxis
Spencer KassimirAmerican influences on Rugby League in Australia
Margaret Jean KellyMale Privilege and Entitlement as Experienced and Navigated by Transgender Women and Transgender Men
Marian LorrisonMapping the evolution of the new woman in New South Wales, 1880–1914
Morwenna MacGillivrayA comparative study of the experiences of senior female leaders in the different armed forces of the UK, US and Australia
Georgia McWhinneyMore disease-ridden outfits: The British dominion forces and preventative folk medicine in the First World War
Michael NichollsMasculinity and ‘the Millions Club’ in Interwar Australia, 1920–1939
Emma SarianThe History of Race in Australia, Reconsidered
Saartje TackSuicide and the Prevention Narrative
Amy WayHow deep is your time? A History of Australian Antiquity
Student nameThesis title
Kylie-Ann FlackPackaging the Past for Children: Australian historical novels and picture books for children since 1945
Jarrod HoreVisions of Nature: Territoriality and Landscape Photography in Three Settler Sites, 1848–1900
Jennifer McLarenIrish Lives in the British Caribbean: Engaging with Empire in the Revolutionary Era