I am Dr Claire Harrill. I am a Programme Officer for The Brilliant Club, a charity whose mission it is to get students from underrepresented backgrounds into highly selective universities, where I often get to share my love of all things medieval, and especially of the kind of things medieval ladies could get up to (even if they shouldn’t).
I was previously a Visiting Lecturer/Teaching Associate at the University of Birmingham for three years (2015–6, 2016–7 and autumn term of 2017), by way of a PhD in English at Birmingham, an MA in Medieval Literatures at the University of York and a BA in English Language and Literature (Course II – Medieval only!) at the University of Oxford, where I was originally lured into medieval literature by a first-year Middle English Mods paper.
On this blog, I’m sharing some of my medieval musings, particularly focussed on teaching and sharing research with a general audience. I’m also hoping this will be a space to talk about ‘academic life’ in the broader sense, including everything from work-life balance to the dangers of a lifestyle of self-motivation. I am also going to be sharing pictures of my cat, Chaucer, who is shown sitting on the book he wrote on the main page of this blog.
There will be (technology permitting) some podcasts going up here in collaboration with Medieval Bex, so watch this space (or, you know, listen to it).
I am also going to share some of my experiences with Outreach and Widening Participation, which is something I am deeply committed to.
I would love to make myself available for talks about anything medieval or anything related to widening participation in universities, so just drop me a line if you’re interested.
Dr Claire's Medieval Blog 