Laura Swift appointed new Regius Professor of Greek

Professor Swift is a literary critic of ancient Greece, specialising in Greek tragedy and lyric poetry. Her doctoral thesis received the Hellenic Foundation Thesis Prize and her subsequent research has received international recognition including an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship and a Philip Leverhulme Prize. She is known particularly for her work on the relationship between Greek tragedy and other forms of choral poetry, including her book The Hidden Chorus, and for her work on fragmentary texts from antiquity. She wrote the first complete commentary on the seventh-century BC poet Archilochus.

Professor Swift also works with contemporary theatre-makers and other creative practitioners, exploring how fragmentary ancient texts can inspire new creative work. She is an active advocate for making Classics accessible to wider audiences and has contributed to the development of the Classical Civilisation A level curriculum, as well as working across radio, podcasts, theatre and literary festivals.

Professor Swift says: 'It’s a huge honour to take up this position, and a privilege to be the first woman to hold it. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Faculty to advocate for Classics and for the value of the Humanities.'

Professor Swift took her BA in Literae Humaniores at Magdalen College, Oxford in 2002, followed by an MSt and DPhil at Oxford, completing her doctorate in 2007. She subsequently held academic and research positions at Oxford and University College London before taking up a Lectureship at the Open University in 2012. She returned to Oxford in 2022 as Tutorial Fellow in Classics at Magdalen College and Associate Professor of Greek in the Faculty of Classics, and was awarded the title of Professor in 2024. The Regius Professorship of Greek was established by Henry VIII in 1541.