Our Team

Nicole Davis received her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2023. Her thesis examined the social history of the shopping arcade in nineteenth-century Australia from a transnational perspective. She is a member of the Melbourne History Workshop based at the university, and a Research Fellow in history and sociology of education and qualitative data archiving at Melbourne Graduate School …

Carmelina Contarino is an Honours student in the History & Philosophy of Science program. Her thesis explores scientific methodology through understanding researcher’s perceptions of exploratory research. Carmelina is interested in how perception of exploratory modes forms part of the research cycle, its impact on epistemic iteration and the self-correcting nature of science. Carmelina is also a researcher at the Centre …

Madeline (she/her) is communications professional and emerging conservator currently completing the Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. In 2019 she completed a BA at Monash University with a double major in Media and Communications, and Film and Screen Studies, and in 2021 completed the Executive Master of Arts at the University of Melbourne. At present Madeline is …

Hailing from Lancaster, UK, Ash Finn completed both a BA and an MA in Manchester before relocating to Melbourne to start a PhD in 2019. Approaching legal history through social history, Ash's thesis examines Roman social attitudes towards violence and revenge, and how these influenced the development of the penal system: arenas, lions, beatings and burnings. Ash was awarded the …

Elena Heran is a PhD Candidate in Classics & Archaeology. Her thesis centres around the treatment of male and female characters in Ovid's Metamorphoses, examining the ways in which the poet's fascination with Roman male anxieties, such as fatherhood, desire, reputation, and the transition from boy to man, leads to the oversimplification and marginalisation of the poem's female characters. She …

James is a PhD student in History, with his thesis examining Australian anti-fascism from the 1920s into the post World War Two period. He is currently treasurer of the History Postgraduate Association (2021–present), editor of the Melbourne Historical Journal and volunteer at the New International Bookstore.

Tom is an PhD candidate in archaeology researching the applications of digital representations of heritage in fostering public engagement with the past. He works as a practicing commercial archaeologist and photogrammetrist in Victoria, with experience on research projects in Italy and Israel. He has worked as a research assistant with the Melbourne-based VR heritage creator Lithodomos and is currently working …

Gen is an emerging conservator studying at the Grimwade Centre. She has an interest in the application of conservation to archaeology and studies of provenance and is currently writing her thesis on the investigation of metrology within the University of Melbourne’s Middle Eastern Manuscript Collection. By understanding how and with what units of measurements these manuscripts were scaled during their …

Carl Joseph Sciglitano is a graduate student in the History & Philosophy of Science program. After completing his Master's degree in Science (Astronomy) at Swinburne University in 2018, Carl became interested in how scientists extend their epistemic gaze through technology, be it a telescope or a complex computer algorithm. It is this broad area that Carl is currently hoping to …

Jonathan is a PhD student in History, researching the role of militarised student organisations in the development of post-independence Indonesia. He is interested in histories of student activism and the role of youth in national development, within both militarised and non-militarised settings. Jonathan is also a current member of the Melbourne Historical Journal collective.

Larissa Tittl is a PhD candidate in the Classics and Archaeology Program. Her research focuses on human-landscape interactions in Late Bronze Age Crete. In particular, she is examining how votive objects deposited in caves were used as agents of manipulation and negotiation within an animistic world in which human and non-human entities engaged with and related to one another. Larissa …

Carley Tonoli is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, based in the Philosophy Program. Her research focuses on the ethics of emerging technologies, and her current work looking at emerging military technologies, their ethical implications, and potential consequences for humanity and the future of war. Carley's research is informed by her previous work and studies in the …

Sam Watts is a PhD Candidate in History, researching Black American daily life in the post-Emancipation Deep South. His research details the experiences and achievements of formerly enslaved and free Black Americans during Reconstruction and examines the connections between freedom, mobility, citizenship and urban space. Sam writes occasionally for the Australian Book Review and co-founded ANZASA Online, an American studies …

Jiyuan (Luke) Yin is a PhD candidate in History. His doctoral research concentrates on the urban history of treaty ports and everyday life in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China, specifically in relation to social and cultural interactions between foreigners and Chinese. Luke is interested in historical topics around gender and sex, global immigration and travelling. Luke is a member …

Becky Clifton completed her PhD in Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne in 2019. Her research centred diverse expressions of identity in the art and literature of the Amarna Period in Egypt and she has a particular interest in how modern Western cultural expectations surrounding gender and sexuality impact the histories we write of non-conforming figures in the …

Henry Dobson is a current PhD candidate in Philosophy. After completing his Master's degree at Monash University in 2016, he moved to the UK where he lived for two years while working in the technology industry. It was during this time that he learnt about the increasing concerns with AI technology and the possible negative impacts it can have on …

Samara Greenwood is a PhD candidate in the History and Philosophy of Science program. Her thesis explores how changes in social context affect scientific work. The project involves analysing varied historical episodes to establish the multiple ways contextual changes have come to impact science. In particular, Samara is interested in how the rising social status of lower-valued groups, such as …

Nayree’s research concerns twentieth-century Middle Eastern and US diplomatic history. Post-war Lebanon is also a subject of interest, especially memory and reconciliation practices that have occurred since the end of the country’s second civil war (1975–1990). Nayree’s MA focused specifically on apologies given for civil war atrocities in Lebanon and she has published issues concerning this topic in the ANU …

Hailing from Narbolia (Italy), Laura Pisanu completed her BA, MA, and Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici (8 level in the European Qualification Framework) at the University of Cagliari before starting a PhD in Melbourne in 2021. Focusing on the Bronze and Iron Age, Laura’s thesis examines factors that might have influenced the human occupation of the southern Montiferru and …

Henry Reese is a historian and musician based in Melbourne. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2019. He is currently writing the first cultural history of sound recording in Australia and working as a tutor and research assistant at various universities. Henry produces and mixes the audio, and writes the original soundtrack music, for Forum's 'Disaster …

Samantha Rogers is a student of the Grimwade Centre's Master of Cultural Materials Conservation. She has an interest in paper and object conservation and community heritage advocacy and engagement. She has a Master of Ancient History from Macquarie University and a BA (Hons) in History from Monash University. Samantha is a qualified secondary teacher specialising in History and Humanities and …

Paul Coleman is studying a Masters of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. He is currently writing a thesis on documentation methodologies and pre-acquisition strategies for the preservation of interactive digital-based artworks. He completed a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English Literature and Philosophy at the University of Adelaide before completing his honours year in English …

Anton is a PhD student in History, with his thesis research examining Australian remembrance of the Second World War in the 1940s and 1950s. Currently co-President of the History Postgraduate Association (2019/2020) and a former editor of Melbourne Historical Journal, Anton is passionate about fostering collegiality and creating a mutually supportive environment.

Georgia Garvey-Hawke is an emerging historian and conservator, currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. In 2016 she earned a BH-Arts Degree with First-Class Honours, with a double major in History and English and Theatre Studies, at the University of Melbourne. The remarkable tale of survival of the John Henry Austral vinyl records, which Georgia …

Ashley Hayes is an artist and emerging conservator. She is currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. Her minor thesis is exploring the post-acquisition strategies for performance artworks within Australian art institutions. She completed a Bachelor of Visual Art specialising in sculpture and installation in 2015, receiving First-Class Honours, at the University of South Australia.

Argyris (Ross) Karavis is a Doctoral candidate in History at the University of Melbourne researching the impact of French gastronomic taste on Australian food culture between 1850 and 1914. He has previously undertaken research on the 1901 Federation Dinners and on the emergence of yum cha in Australia in the 1990s as part of the Master of Arts in Food …

Jennifer is an MA graduate in History at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis research focused on the identity, social status and activities of pizzochere (lay religious women) in sixteenth-century Venice. Her previous research on the relic cult of Saint Catherine of Siena in fifteenth-century Venice has been published in Renaissance Studies. She was 2019 ACIS-Save Venice Research Fellow and was also a …

Fallon Mody is a PhD candidate in the History and Philosophy of Science Program, researching European medical migrants in twentieth-century Australia. Her research has been published in international academic journals, including Women's History Review and Social History of Medicine. Fallon also works as a research assistant for the Centre for Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis in an interdisciplinary team of scientists, …

Dang Nguyen is a PhD candidate in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS) at the University of Melbourne. She is working under the supervision of Associate Professor Michael Arnold (SHAPS) and Associate Professor Richard Chenhall (MSPGH). Her PhD project investigates the performance of non-biomedical knowledge on the internet. The aim is to understand how digital technologies influence the propagation of knowledge that …

Sofie Onorato is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis examines the nineteenth-century English newspaper and its development, specifically in relation to the Franco-Prussian War. She is interested in how technology, politics, genre and commercial considerations create intersections between media and society. Currently, Sofie is a member of the editorial team for the Melbourne Historical …

Isabella Walker is an emerging paintings conservator currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. In 2015 she completed a Bachelor of Arts with First-Class Honours at the University of Melbourne, majoring in English and Art History. She is currently completing a minor thesis that examines the links that can be drawn between the history of …