Dr Peter Swallow MP
On July 4th, 2024 Peter was elected to parliament as the first Labour MP for the Bracknell Constituency. We wish him well in his next venture! Peter was previously webmaster for Advocating Classics Education and a member of the team since 2017. He also worked on the popular reception of Aristotle’s natural science on the Leverhulme-funded 'Aristotle Beyond the Academy' research project. Previously, he held a postdoctoral position at the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College London, and taught at both KCL and Goldsmiths. He has also taught at Notting Hill and Ealing High School. Peter sits on the Classical Association’s Teaching Board as a HE Rep, sharing his skills and expertise to improve Classics education in schools.
Sarah Poynder
Sarah conducted research on the backgrounds of people with experience of Classical Civilisation and/or Ancient History secondary qualifications, collecting, analysing and interpreting data and compiling statistics supplied by our survey and questionnaire. The results are presented in Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in British Secondary Education (forthcoming June 2025) by Arlene and Edith. Sarah also analysed data for the Classical Association to provide an empirical basis for its response to the Department for Education’s Curriculum and Assessment review (open public consultation) and an agenda item at discussed during the recent inaugural meeting of the Classics All Party Parliamentary Group (chaired by Dr Peter Swallow MP) in the Palace of Westminster. The Classical Association is using her findings and advice to inform their preparations for an upcoming qualification review.
Marcus Bell
Marcus was a Public Impact Researcher for the ACE project. They completed their BA and MA at King’s College London focusing on 20th Century receptions of ancient dance and is currently a DPhil candidate at Oxford. Marcus is dedicated to outreach and activism inside and out of the classroom. Their current research examines chorality at the turn of the 21st century by considering the work of dance practitioners, performance artists and activists. With ACE, they travelled across the country attending events with each partner university and collated and analysed the feedback from those events to inform a larger understanding of the impact this project has created.
Bella Watts
Bella is a current undergraduate student at Barnard College in New York majoring in Ancient Studies. She is particularly interested in the study of gender and sexuality in the ancient world; having previously studied Latin and Greek at school she has been hugely enjoying the opportunity to broaden her study to include ancient history and culture.
Her other voluntary work includes being a student volunteer for a university conference dedicated to inclusive Classics pedagogy and working with Oxfordshire Kindness Wave and Oxford Mutual Aid. She is very excited to be joining ACE’s mission to make the study of Classical subjects more accessible and inclusive.
Nimisha Patel
Nimi completed her PhD exploring the presence of Classics material in Post-Independence Indian school textbooks. Nimi is dedicated to changing education to accommodate a wider demographic of students who can often be marginalised in main-stream education. As well as working with education charities in Berkshire to help increase inclusivity within schools, Nimi has volunteered with ACE as she believes that classics offers students the opportunity to develop skills in synthesising large quantities of multi-disciplinary data. This is a skill which she thinks is beneficial and unfortunately slowly fading in an education system focused on creating ‘worker bees’.
Kitty Cooke
Kitty Cooke was an Ancient World student at UCL. She attended the state-sector Parrs Wood High School in Manchester and is passionate about expanding the teaching of classics to all. She also volunteers at the British Museum in the department of Coins and Medals.
Dr Caroline Latham
Caroline studied English at Queen Mary College London, taught drama in London state schools for many years, took Classical Civilisation A Level, learned Greek, enrolled at the OU, and eventually got her PhD at King’s College London for an excellent doctorate on translations of Greek drama for the professional stage. Caroline conducted archival research for the project, delving into old textbooks and exam papers for all exam boards since Classical Civilisation and Ancient History qualifications were first introduced!
