Celebrating Women in Classics: Ten Years of the Women’s Classical Committee UK
As part of the Women’s Classical Committee’s tenth anniversary celebrations, we invite you to join us for a lively round table discussion and Q&A on the theme of ‘Celebrating Women in Classics’ on 22nd April 2026 at the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. Our panellists are experts across a range of disciplines whose work offers new and different ways of celebrating the women of the ancient world, as well as the women who have studied the ancient world.
Topics will include: the impact of modern retellings of Classical myth on the study of Classical Civilization in schools (Katharine Russell), women on the Grand Tour (Dr Hardeep Dhindsa) and the use of the women of ancient myth in modern theatre on the themes of peace and war (Dr Alice König).After presentations by the speakers and a panel discussion, the audience will be welcome to ask questions and join the conversion.
This event will begin with a drinks reception from 5pm; the panel discussion will begin at 6pm.
All are welcome to this free, celebratory event. The event is in-person only, but a recording will be made available afterwards.
The evening event will be preceded by the WCC’s AGM, from 2-4pm. This is for members only, but all are welcome to join (see details below).
Please register for this event on the SAS website by clicking here.
Speaker Bios
Katharine Piu San Russell is a PhD student at Durham University. Her research looks at how the recent wave of myth-based fiction by female authors is changing the classical pedagogy landscape. By interviewing students and teachers across England, she has found that this literary trend has been generating a sense of belonging for a new community of young women classicists. Her research was inspired by five years spent as the Head of Classics at a multi-academy trust in the East of England.
Dr Hardeep Dhindsa (he/him) is the Curator of Victorian Art and the Global at Birmingham Museums Trust, specialising in Greco-Roman art and its receptions. He is interested in the relationship between Whiteness and classical antiquity across the British Empire, particularly during the long eighteenth century. Hardeep has collaborated with several cultural institutions, including The British Museum, The National Trust, and The National Gallery to develop public programmes addressing the difficult histories of empire.
Prof. Alice König is a Professor of Classics at the University of St Andrews. Her current research projects, ‘Visualising War and Peace: interplay between conflict narratives in ancient and modern cultures’ and Visualising Peace, both explore the ways in which interplay between conflict narratives in different media has helped to canonise ideas about war and peace across time and space. Since 2019 she has worked with the professional theatre company NMT Automatics, including on the development of their 2022 play, ‘Tempus Fugit: Troy and Us’, more recently on a new play about peace and post-conflict recovery, provisionally titled ‘Rena’. In 2025, Alice founded the Ancient Peace Studies Network.
Supporting the WCC UK
This event is free to attend, but if you would like to support the Women’s Classical Committee UK’s work, make a donation via Paypal or join the WCC as a member.
Members of the WCC UK are eligible to join our mentoring programmes and apply for our Small Grants funding, as well as always having free access to all our events. Membership fees are £20 per calendar year, or £5 for students and unemployed, underemployed, or retired members. For more information and to join please visit our website.
Financial support for attendees
Thanks to generous funding from the Classical Association and the Council of University Classics Department’s EDI Committee, we are able to offer 7 bursaries of £100 each to enable graduate students and unemployed or underemployed attendees to participate in this event. For more information and to apply, please click here for the application form.
Members of the WCC UK can alternatively apply to our Small Grants scheme for up to £150 towards their costs in attending the AGM and/or the evening event.
Funding
We are grateful to the CUCD, the Classical Association and the John Coffin Trust Fund for their generous support for this event.
