Staff profile

Catherine Kelley is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate at Durham University, whose research bridges Classics and New Testament Studies. She is particularly experienced in the lived experiences and cognitive mechanics of religious life across first-century Graeco-Roman cult worship, Judaism and nascent Christianity. Prior to her doctoral research, Catherine was a Teacher of Classics and Head of Latin at a secondary school. She remains deeply engaged in public-facing Classics: she runs her own business Discover Hadrian's Wall, and has recently launched a podcast, The Modern Classicist, with fellow PhD researcher Emily Oldridge. In 2027, Catherine and Emily will re-launch the Hadrian’s Wall, Durham and Northumberland branches of The Classical Association. Catherine was a Vice-Chancellor's Scholar for Academic Excellence at Durham (2018–21) and held the Hort Research Studentship at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge (2021-2). In 2022, she was installed as a Scholar of St John's College, Cambridge.

• Religion in the Graeco-Roman world
• Early Christianity in its Graeco-Roman context
• Cognitive approaches to ancient religion
• Comparative method in the study of ancient religion
• Classics in the public sphere: outreach, heritage interpretation and public engagement
• Classics education and policy