Alumni Profiles

Below is a small selection of alumni profiles, showing the range of professions open to those with undergraduate or graduate degrees in Classics from Oxford.

Read quotes from graduates.

Toby Pettman, Classics Course 1A, Jesus College 2016; now a cricketer.

Having read Classics at Jesus College from 2016-2020, I surprised even myself when I embarked upon a career as a cricketer after sitting my finals during the Coronavirus pandemic. I never imagined that an Oxford Classics degree would lead me to signing my first professional contract with Nottinghamshire CCC.

I had a fantastic experience at Oxford, as I was able to balance playing sport to a high level with rigorous academic study. I played for the Blues and MCCU teams for all four years of the course, which opened the door to a trial at Nottinghamshire. On the academic side, I especially enjoyed history, focusing my studies on authors like Herodotus, Polybius and Cicero. I was fortunate to have several sport-loving tutors who helped me understand matters such as Roman history in the 4th century by analogy to test cricket.

I hope my experience shows that an Oxford Classics degree can open doors to any career path imaginable. I will cherish the opportunities I had to learn with leading experts in a variety of Classical disciplines in lectures and tutorials. However, I am just as grateful that I was able to make the most of fantastic extra-curricular opportunities Oxford offers too. Life as a cricketer is very different to that of Classics at Oxford, but I am fortunate to know that the skills of analysis, argument and criticism which I learnt during my degree will serve me well when I retire from cricket. In the meantime, I keep my classical knowledge ticking over by doing the Times Latin crossword while we bat!

Nico Hobhouse, Trinity College 2015; now a teacher in China.

nick hobhouse

I studied Classics at Trinity College from 2011-2015. The parts of my degree that I most enjoyed were philosophy and Greek literature.  Since graduating my job has been to teach an eclectic range of introductory courses to Western literature at a university in southwest China. Euripides’ Medea, I can vouch, evokes just the same combination of sympathy and revulsion in a classroom in Chongqing as she did in my tutorials in Durham Quad.  I have spent much of the rest of my time practising Buddhism in eastern Tibet. It turns out that the skills required to unpick the essential meanings of Buddhist teachings expressed in the terms of Tibetan culture are the very same ones I was taught when studying Plato, namely a sensitivity to language, to symbolism, to the historical context in which the texts were written, and to unexpressed philosophical assumptions in the arguments. Classics, in short, has opened some surprising doors.

Joshua Baldwin, graduated 2013; now a Lead Game Designer.

I'm Joshua Baldwin and I'm Lead Designer at Coldwood Interactive, a video game studio in northern Sweden. While I've been working on the artistic puzzle-platformer Unravel Two for the last few years, I actually got my first job at a historical games studio - Creative Assembly. My knowledge of history and art obviously came in handy, but it was the skills I learned during my CAAH degree that really prepared for life in the games industry. All games are based on systems - they are interlocking sets of rules the player can interact with. For me, this has direct parallels in archaeology and anthropology, where you take a disparate set of pieces of evidence and try and create wider rules that explain how societies worked and people behaved. It's the human element that's really key to both - a set of rules by itself is useless if it doesn't replicate behaviour that makes sense to the historian or player. So don't let yourself be limited by your subject matter! Your skillset unlocks a whole swathe of jobs based around systems and not just in the videogame industry.

Liliana Worth, graduated 2010; now works for CNC.

I chose to do a Joint Schools degree in Classics and French as I was interested in Europe, its languages, and its classical heritage. Moreover, the breadth of the degree was very attractive: I found I could study La Nausée alongside numismatics, debate Sarkozy’s election while reading Epicurus, and compare Catullus with Flaubert. Such broad training meant I was a good position to pursue interdisciplinary research, first through an MSt in Medieval Studies and then a DPhil in English Literature (to 1550). Throughout my graduate research I often found myself drawing on my previous knowledge and skills, especially with regard to untranslated texts and reworkings of classical material. Plus, the range of subjects I’d studied earlier meant I was ever ready to explore new fields and languages. 

And so to China, where I now work as a television presenter for programmes on Chinese society, politics and culture. It’s a far cry from 13th-century Latin histories but no less entertaining! I’ve found that the meticulous linguistic training from my degrees was first-rate preparation for tackling the puzzle of Chinese characters, while studying the classical and medieval worlds left me ready to take on the rich unfamiliarity of Chinese traditions. My earlier studies have led to all sorts of new intellectual adventures — whether reporting in Tiananmen Square on the history of the Silk Road, doing a live broadcast in Chinese while paragliding in Guizhou, interviewing world leaders at the Asian Davos, or presenting on endangered minority communities in Sichuan. Studying the European past gave me, paradoxically, the right tools for understanding the Chinese present. 

Sometimes I wonder about integrating more Classics into our programmes and presenting on, for example, 17th-century Jesuits’ writings in Latin about contemporary China. But I’m still working on convincing my editor to do a series on that...
 

Dr Lucy Jackson, Corpus Christi College 2004, now Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature

I first came to Oxford in 2004 as an undergraduate on the four-year Lit Hum 1A course. I have to admit I wasn't the most focused of classicists during the first three years; rowing, theatre, the college ball committee - all offered pleasant distractions and possibilities. Beginning the final-year dissertation showed me what I'd been missing. I knuckled down and managed to achieve a perfectly adequate final mark in Greats. After a year 'out' when I tutored alongside caring for my elderly father, I spent a very happy year at the University of Exeter completing a one-year Master's degree. I returned to Oxford for a DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature in 2010. This time I was determined not to miss a single opportunity and made the most of Oxford's superlative range of seminars, lectures, and classes. Support abounded for travel and the building of a nascent scholarly network. Through my college, Corpus, I was able to spend a term at the Scuola Normale in Pisa in 2012 and, via a different Faculty scheme, was a visiting student at Princeton University for a semester in 2013. These were precious and spectacularly generative periods of time when I broadened my perspective on matters within and beyond the academy. 

After a stint as a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities in 2014, I was a teaching fellow at King's College London, then stipendiary lecturer at Balliol College Oxford. I was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship back at King's College London (2016-19) and after that I joined the Classics and Ancient History department of Durham University as Assistant Professor of ancient Greek literature. The ways in which Oxford's ethos and resources have enabled me to move and work as I have done are inescapably obvious. But I would certainly not be where I am, whole and happy, were it not for the encouragement and kindly indulgence of the department's many excellent humans (and, occasionally, animals).

 

Dr Katie Low (Magdalen, 2004) Policy Officer

I completed a BA, MSt and DPhil in Classics at Oxford, ultimately writing my doctoral thesis on the Roman historian Tacitus' Annals.  I enjoyed my studies, but my commitment to Classics sometimes had to compete with a strong interest in modern European languages and culture.  Fortunately these two passions were not mutually exclusive, especially during my postgraduate years: thanks to a college exchange and understanding supervisors, I was able to spend a year as an exchange student in Paris.

After my viva I worked as a lecturer in Oxford and elsewhere, but then realised I was more drawn to life outside of academia (although recently I have surprised myself by picking up some of my old research interests).  I ended up moving to Brussels in 2015, and since then have mostly worked for the EU in various capacities, initially in communication and subsequently in research and innovation policy; my current role is in an EU public-private partnership on developing sustainable aviation technologies.

My academic background gave me much that has been useful in Brussels, not least a clear and concise communication style, the ability to absorb information and separate rhetoric from reality, and a historian's sense of the 'bigger picture'.  These transferable skills have allowed me to find roles in several interesting areas - not just aviation but also energy and advanced technology policy - and build a profile focused on coordination, communication and supporting decision-making.  Experience of Latin and Greek, meanwhile, is an excellent basis for learning new foreign languages.  Back in Oxford, I would never have dreamed that my career would take this direction, but now I feel that my study of antiquity equipped me surprisingly well for navigating the modern world.

 

 

Jenny Amphaeris, St. Hilda's College 2008; now studying for a PhD in linguistics and biological sciences.

Following my Literae Humaniores undergraduate at St Hilda’s College, and some research in between, I am now undertaking an interdisciplinary Ph.D. between linguistics and biological sciences funded by Bangor University’s College of Arts and Humanities. I am reassessing definitions of language in light of developments in both cognitive science and animal communication research. The aim is to streamline terminology use and language conceptualisation across disciplines by constructing a new theoretical framework for language and determining if, and how, other species might fit into this.  My Classical training at Oxford has been invaluable, not only to aid in articulacy, criticality, and confidence in asserting my ideas, but more specifically providing me with a keen grasp of philosophy, the historical perspective on language, and the challenge set by ancient sages to think beyond the limits of current understanding.

Roberta Thomson (St Hilda's, 2004); CEO, Sixth Wall - Habro's AI Studio

Douglas Reith, Christ Church 1989; now an actor.

Douglas Reith

Mods 'A' Literae Humaniores at 36 years old! Daunted? No.  Apprehensive?  You bet!  There I was, a Christ Church 'Fresher' in October 1989,exactly twice the age of the other new bugs. I'd re-sat my Latin and Greek A Levels, to be at least on a par with all the bright and younger things.  My initial worries were groundless.

The House is a wonderfully inclusive college, and I was never made to feel out of place by any of my much younger contemporaries.  The course tested and stretched me to the limit -sometimes beyond! But I always had the support of wonderful tutors -and fellow students brighter than I. I had resigned from my announcing job with BBC Radio 3 to return to Classics, and I haven't regretted that decision for a second; it was a fantastically enriching 4 Years. I went on to teach at a VIth Form college in London, then briefly at Westminster School, and as a private tutor, until I revived my acting career.  I have no doubt that my reading of Greek Tragedy and Comedy has informed and deepened my understanding of performance - even in my role in Downton Abbey!  Looking back now, what a privilege it was to have the time and freedom to study some of the greatest literature ever written, and be guided by some of the finest minds available.

Maria Wyard (Corpus Christi, 2008)  British Civil Servant

I work for the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office as the leader of a 30-person group working on health, education, governance and inclusion in Pakistan.  In 2027 I will be the Head of the UK's development partnership with Nepal, aiming to support recovery and growth after the recent devastation.  I most enjoy making a real difference to people who are living in tougher conditions than me.  I also love building my teams' potential and seeing them use their expertise to improve society.

I came into this career not as an expert in development: my only qualification is my Classics BA (which some of my Pakistani colleagues are shocked about).  I joined the Civil Service Fast Stream graduate scheme straight after university which tested analytical skills, the ability to synthesise evidence and make practical policy recommendations, oral communication and develop interpersonal skills.  The best preparation for me at the time was to drill the numerical and verbal reasoning tests as much as possible.

Languages, philosophy and the tutorial system all very much supported my career.  My degree gave me the confidence to digest complex and detailed information and arguments, and communicate my analysis and recommendations to seniors.  This is very helpful in Government and working with Ministers or leaders of international organisations.

The other key skills to develop are leadership and collaboration.  For this, find time beyond your degree to volunteer, do internships (I did some teaching), and lead initiatives (I ran the Corpus Classics Society for a year).

 

Marina Kemp, Christ Church 2004; now a novelist.

I studied Classics at Christ Church from 2004-2010.  I enjoyed the course from the beginning, but it was after the second-year exams, when I could focus exclusively on literature and ancient history, that I really began to love it.  As a degree, I think Oxford’s Classics course is incomparable in its sheer range.  I particularly loved studying Homer and Classical Reception (the reception of ancient texts into 20th-century literature).  But I genuinely miss all of it: the forensic approach you have to take when studying ancient history, given the often patchy or incomplete nature of the sources; the rigour of the language work and translation; the passion of the brilliant tutors; and, most of all, the beautiful and immensely powerful literature, which often felt incredibly modern to me.

It’s definitely that literary training that has stayed with and informed me in my career.  I worked for some time at Penguin Random House, in Editorial, before co-founding Ink Academy, which provides editorial guidance and creative writing teaching to aspiring writers (many of whom have now been published).  But the main focus of my time is my own writing.  My first novel, Nightingale, was published in the UK and the US in 2020, and shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and the Southbank Show Times Breakthrough Artist of the Year Awards. 

I am now halfway through writing my second novel, and find myself drawing on my Classics degree often.  It inspired both creativity and discipline in me, both of which are crucial to work as a novelist.

Lorna Averies, Classics course II, Trinity College 2014; worked in Communications, now studying Medicine.

The course (IIA) was everything I had hoped in furthering my interest in Classics - with exceptional resources, teaching, and opportunities. Yet, what I found most valuable about my education in Classics was the wide range of skills it gave me, in addition to building my confidence. The four years I spent reading, translating, and analysing texts were an excellent grounding for my first several jobs working in Communications. The language skills and confidence developed during my degree enabled me to lead my own team and create the first communication review board for a major bank. I am now studying Medicine where I have found the communication, language, and critical thinking strengths gained through Classics have been essential. Having a well-rounded education and background has allowed me to adapt my skills to a range of careers and situations, and I find it difficult to imagine any career where they would not be directly useful.

Dr Kelly Shannon-Henderson (Corpus Christi, 2007) Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati.

After graduating with a BA in Classics from the University of Virginia, I came to Oxford for the MSt, intending to leave after the year was up to return to the US to enter a PhD program. One term in Oxford changed my mind completely. By the end of Michaelmas, after hitting upon my ideal topic and supervisor for a DPhil thesis, I had my heart set on staying in Oxford for the rest of my postgraduate education, made possible by generous financial support from the Clarendon Fund and the Memoria Romana Project.  My goal had always been an academic position in an American university.  After two one-year positions along the way (a postdoc in Germany and an adjunct-lecturer position in the US), I landed my first tenure-track job at the University of Alabama in 2014.  I arrived at my current post at the University of Cincinnati in 2021.

The excellent training I received in Oxford's Faculty of Classics has helped me achieve these goals. Oxford offered me unique resources and opportunities – particularly its lively seminars, excellent research libraries, and special collections that allow postgraduate students to learn skills like papyrology and palaeography directly from ancient documents and medieval manuscripts – that made me a better Classicist in ways that I still feel daily.  My edition and commentary on the Greek paradoxographer Phlegon of Tralles (Brill, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker Part IV, 2022) would not have been possible without the skills I learned in Oxford. Without the excellent mentoring and research training I received while writing my DPhil thesis, I don't know that my first book, Religion and Memory in Tacitus' Annals (Oxford Classical Monographs, 2019) would have come out well enough to merit the Society for Classical Studies' Goodwin Award (2020), that organisation's highest scholarly award.  Oxford’s people are perhaps the most impressive of its many resources, and I am still in regular contact with my supervisor and other members of the Faculty, and with many of the friends I made while writing my DPhil, who are now colleagues in departments scattered across the globe.

Ben Lay (Keble 2003)  Lieutenant Commander.

After studying Classics, I took the MSt in 2007/8, enjoying the breadth and depth of study in both undergraduate and postgraduate tiers.  Following a period of varied work in and around the University, I applied to join the Royal Navy in 2011 and began training as a Logistics Officer in 2013.  I have since been promoted twice and hold the rank of Lieutenant Commander.  I have served as Head of the Logistics Department in His Majesty's Ships 'Scott', 'Echo' and currently 'Duncan'.  I also conducted legal training courtesy of the RN and am a fully qualified criminal barrister, working in discipline, administrative, and operational legal assignments between logistics departments.   

Taking the view that if one can tackle one subject, one can tackle any subject (v Sayers, D. Gaudy Night) and firmly of the opinion that, while philosophy might be pure thinking, everything else is applied thinking, I've taken and applied to my Naval work the transferable skills of drawing the critical facts immediately from the text (or situation) in front of us, deducing those we cannot see, and formulating a viable interpretation.  For any in the Service who question the utility of Classics, I liken the rigour and mental development involved in Oxford Classics to the world-class physical, endurance, and resilience training that our Royal Marines undertake: Classics Mods are a Commando Course for the mind.  

Daisy Dunn (St Hilda's, 2005) Writer.

Daisy Dunn

I came up to Oxford to read Classics armed with a Latin dictionary, a box of empty ring-binders, and a pink kettle. When I went down in 2009, I had twelve over-filled files, stacks of student newspapers I couldn’t throw away, and, resting on top, the ‘soft cap’ I chose in preference to the mortar board for taking to the university examinations.  Seeing my accomplishments piled up like that only blurred the memories of what life had been like as an undergraduate.

There was no room in the car boot for the hours I had spent tracking down articles in the Sackler Library, or listening to lectures on the Homeric Question in Schools, or handling priceless Greek vases and Roman casts, and editing copy in the frantic newspaper offices on St Aldate’s.  I studied both Greek and Latin as part of the course, and really enjoyed the opportunity to take papers in Homer and Ovid, as well as in Roman history, art, and the Reception of Classics in twenty-first century poetry.  By the end of the final year I wanted to look at the subject from a different perspective, and won a scholarship to study for an MA in Art History of Renaissance Italy at the Courtauld Institute in London.  After a break, this led me to embark upon a part-time PhD in the relationship between the two worlds, the ancient and the Renaissance, at UCL, where I was lucky enough to be awarded funding from the AHRC.  At the same time I worked as Executive Officer of JACT, which supports the teaching of Classics in schools, and as a journalist.  I completed my PhD in 2013. Today I work full time as a writer and critic, and remain involved in the work of JACT and the Classical Association.  My first book is very much inspired by the topics I studied as a Classics undergraduate at Oxford.

Joanna Dirmikis, Magdalen College 1997; now a qualified barrister.

My passion for Greece, drama and history drew me to studying Classics. Oxford was an obvious choice because it has the best reputation in the subject and Magdalen was the obvious college for me because of having Professor Oliver Taplin, a world expert in Ancient Greek theatre. I have very fond memories of the tutorial system at Oxford and the theatrical performances I acted in and directed whilst I was a student at Oxford.   

Studying Classics helped me hone some of the skills I still use today for my work as a barrister -forensic analysis of huge amounts of information, honing arguments on one side or another, interpreting and weighing evidence and asking and trying to answer some very challenging questions. But it also gave me a bedrock of knowledge which I can always go back to and build on if I want to. I am still fascinated by the Ancient World, still love all things Classical and I am so glad I decided to study what I did. It has made me a better lawyer and hopefully a more interesting and well-rounded person !  

Adrian Bird CB (Balliol College, 1988) Permanent Secretary

I am a Permanent Secretary in the UK Civil Service.  My role is the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).  The JIC is the cross-government committee responsible for providing Ministers with intelligence assessments on strategic national security issues.  it's a great job and a huge privilege to serve in the role.  The best bit is working with a team of brilliant people to provide the PM with key advice.

I had always been interested in intelligence.  After I left Oxford I joined GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), the UK's Signals Intelligence and Cyber Agency, as part of the Civil Service Fast Stream.  After 29 years at GCHQ I became the Chief of Defence Intelligence in the MoD, moving from there into my current job.  I've had a wonderful career in the Civil Service, in a wide range of roles, continually learning and developing my skills.

I loved my time at Oxford, and studying Classics was a deeply informative experience.  It wasn't just the subject matter - being immersed in the incredible history, literature, philosophy and art was inspiring; nor just the excellent social life.  Classics was foundational because I learned how to think: from the rigour of linguistic work, to the synthesising large amounts of information, to the marshalling of arguments.  My best piece of advice?  Look to manage your energy rather than your time.  We all have the same amount of time, so focus on how you can be at your best when you need to be - and have fun!

Jonathan Wiseman (Lady Margaret Hall, 1999) General Counsel and Chief People Officer at Ocado Retail

 

My role is unusual, looking after all things relating to legal, risk and compliance on the one hand, and people and culture on the other.  Much like my degree, the things I enjoy most about the role are the variety, intellectual challenge and people I get to work with.

Like many humanities graduates, the idea of a career in law appealed to me, without actually knowing much of what was involved when I signed up!  I spent some time in private practice in the City before moving to work in-house at Ocado, who were one of my clients, over a decade ago.  I had various legal roles within Ocado over the years, culminating in my current role about six years ago.

The skills I picked up reading Classics and English - closely analysing texts, drawing comparisons across different works, and consuming and synthesising significant amounts of research each week - have stood me in good stead.  The tutorial system too, at first terrifying but ultimately hugely enjoyable and intellectually satisfying, was a great training too.

Looking back, it feels like my time at Oxford was at the cusp of two eras: we were all given email addresses, but most communications were still by pigeon post; the internet was available but no-one really knew what to do with it; and it always felt easier to hand-write an essay than find 10p to use one of the (usually broken) college printers!  For all that, I'm sure the skills I learnt at the time are similar to those the students learn today.

I'm not sure I'm awash with advice for the current cohort of students but take advantage of everything Oxford has to offer and seek out opportunities as they don't always fall into your lap like they might have done at school!