Dr Alison Pollard

Outreach Officer

Dr Alison Pollard

Alison is the first point of contact for all outreach activities within the Faculty of Classics. She works closely with the Schools Liaison Officer and Senior Researcher in Classical Education to implement the Faculty of Classics' Access and Outreach programme. Alison coordinates and gives Classical Archaeology lectures for the Classical Conversations programme, as well as managing the OxLAT scheme, the Faculty of Classics' outreach competitions, the university open days and the UNIQ programme. 
 

​​​​She is one of two Designated Safeguarding Leads for the Faculty of Classics. For any safeguarding concerns or queries please email outreach@classics.ox.ac.uk. 
 

Alison is a classical archaeologist who specialises in the art and archaeology of ancient Rome, in particular sculpture and domestic decoration (wallpaintings and mosaics) alongside their reception, restoration and display since the 1600s. She has taught several graduate and undergraduate courses in Greek and Roman archaeology at Oxford over the past thirteen years. Alison was the Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at St John’s College from 2018-2023 and teaches Greek and Roman art and archaeology options for several Oxford colleges and the Faculty of Classics. She has worked at the Ashmolean Museum on various projects since 2010: as Project Curator for the redevelopment of the Randolph Sculpture Gallery; Co-Curator for the redevelopment of the Greek World Gallery; Co-Curator for the Story of the Ashmolean Gallery; and Research Curator for the Last Supper In Pompeii exhibition. You can visit Alison's interactive, online catalogue of the Arundel Marbles here: https://www.cloudtour.tv/ashmolean/arundel_marbles.
 

Alison is co-editor of the four-volume monograph on Binchester Roman Fort (ancient Vinovia) in County Durham that will be published in 2028-9. As part of this she is working on the catalogues of copper alloy, silver and gold small finds, sculpture and inscriptions, intaglios and painted fresco that were excavated from the fort, vicus and cemetery between 2009 and 2017.
 

Outreach talks offered:

  • How to decorate a Roman house

  • Portraits of the Julio Claudians: the artistic legacy of Augustus

  • Cancel culture? Damnatio Memoriae in Roman art

  • The archaeology of Roman Britain

  • Theory busting: the Greek sculptural revolution

  • Reading Roman tombstones - no Latin required!

  • Excavating a Roman fort at the edge of an empire

(Get in touch if you would like to discuss other Classical Archaeology lecture options.)