PhD Successes - January 2026

9 January 2026

Congratulations to our remarkable scholars who earned their PhDs in English Literature between July and December 2025! The skill, dedication, and passion for literature you have shown throughout your studies at Durham have resulted in pioneering and inspiring research that you should all be proud of.

We are proud to showcase their incredible work:

Marc Chamberlain, John Wieners and Queer Creation; and Unshut, The Dreams of Goat, Bight of the Knot, and Papigo. Supervised by Professor Paul Batchelor and Associate Professor Kayombo Chingonyi.
Elizabeth Clancy, Talking Flowers and Living Chessmen: Crafted and Cultivated Selves in the Late Medieval Courts of France and England. Supervised by Dr Venetia Bridges and Professor Corinne Saunders.
Kate Foy, “Give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music”: The Female Voice in Early Stuart Tragedy. Supervised by Professors Mandy Green and Barbara Ravelhofer.
Guilia Gilmore, The Road to Babylon: Monsters, Marvels and Moralising History in Medieval Legends of Alexander the Great. Supervised by Dr Venetia Bridges and Professor Corinne Saunders.
Kaiwen Hou, Byron, Celebrity and Blasphemous Resistance to Authority. Supervised by Professor Tom Mole.
Jessica Hunter, Open Wide: Culinary Meta-theatre in Early Modern Drama. Supervised by Professor Barbara Ravelhofer and Dr Elizabeth Swann.
Gareth Reeves, Education or Exile: Individualism and Social Utility, 1870–1914. Supervised by Professors Peter Garratt and Simon James.
Annie Zaidi, Twisted: A Creative & Critical Exploration of ‘Witch’ Protagonists in Contemporary South Asian Fiction. Supervised by Professor Naomi Booth and Dr Maryam Mirza.