Contact
Biography
Profile
I am Professor of Classics at the 糖心原创 and a senior higher education leader with extensive experience of shaping education and student experience at institutional level.
I have held a number of university-wide leadership roles, including Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Curriculum Leadership. In these roles, I have led major strategic initiatives across a global, multi-campus university (UK, China and Malaysia), with a particular focus on curriculum transformation, assessment and feedback, postgraduate taught education, and digital and AI-enabled learning. This work has contributed to significant improvements in student outcomes and experience, including a substantial rise in postgraduate taught satisfaction within national benchmarks over a three-year period.
My leadership approach focuses on aligning academic practice, student experience and institutional strategy, and on supporting universities to respond effectively to technological change, particularly the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence in education.
Alongside this work, I continue to teach and supervise in Roman cultural history. My research explores the sensory and cultural dimensions of the ancient world, particularly colour, smell and the body, and informs my broader interest in how human experience and meaning are shaped by cultural frameworks.
Leadership and Strategy
Over the past decade, my work has focused on the strategic leadership of education and student experience at institutional scale.
As Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Curriculum Leadership, I have contributed to the development and delivery of education strategy across a global university, working across UK, China and Malaysia campuses.
Key areas of leadership include:
- Leading the development of a tri-campus approach to assessment and academic frameworks, establishing shared principles and equivalencies across international campuses
- Co-leading the University's AI in Education strategy, supporting responsible and effective use of AI in teaching, learning and assessment
- Driving improvements in postgraduate taught student experience, contributing to a shift from lower to upper quartile performance nationally
- Providing academic leadership for the postgraduate taught portfolio, including quality, curriculum development and international provision
- Leading the design of a University-wide approach to student engagement and attendance, supporting improved monitoring and intervention
- Working across academic and professional services teams to align digital learning, student services and academic practice
- Supporting institutional responses to TEF, NSS and PTES, using data-led approaches to enhance student outcomes
Earlier roles include Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience (Faculty of Arts), where I led education strategy across three schools and chaired the Faculty Education and Student Experience Board, and Director of Postgraduate Studies (School of Humanities).
I have also contributed to the wider sector through work with the Office for Students, including serving as a Pilot Subject Panel Member for the Teaching Excellence Framework and Interdisciplinary Lead for the Humanities Panel.
Education and Teaching Leadership
I have extensive experience of teaching and curriculum leadership across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Classics, with a particular focus on the history, society and culture of the Roman world.
Alongside subject-specific teaching, I have led and contributed to curriculum development and cross-disciplinary education. This includes co-developing and co-convening the Faculty-wide postgraduate module Mastering the Arts: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Research, bringing together students from across the Arts and Humanities to develop interdisciplinary approaches to research and academic practice.
My approach to education is informed by a strong interest in curriculum design, student engagement and the relationship between research and teaching, with a particular emphasis on developing students' critical, independent and interdisciplinary thinking. This work informs my wider leadership of education at institutional level, particularly in relation to curriculum design, assessment and student success.
Research
My research explores the cultural and sensory history of the ancient Mediterranean, with a particular focus on perception, aesthetics and the body in Roman society.
I have published widely on topics including colour, smell, the senses and the cultural meanings of the body. My monograph Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2009) examined the social and symbolic significance of colour in Roman culture and contributed to wider debates about perception and cultural difference in the ancient world.
A central strand of my work has developed the study of the senses in antiquity as a field of enquiry. I was co-editor of the Routledge series The Senses in Antiquity, which brings together interdisciplinary approaches to sensory experience across the ancient world, and have published on topics including smell, bodily fluids and sensory awareness in religion and culture.
A second strand of my research focuses on the cultural history of the body, pollution and disgust, exploring how ideas of dirt, purity and deviance shaped social hierarchies and moral judgment in Roman society.
I have also worked on the reception of the classical world in modern contexts and on interdisciplinary projects including Effaced from History? Facial Difference and its Impact from Antiquity to the Present Day, funded by the Wellcome Trust.
Doctoral Supervision
I have supervised twenty doctoral students to completion across a wide range of topics in Greco-Roman history, culture and reception, as well as interdisciplinary areas connecting Classics with broader historical and cultural questions.
My doctoral students have achieved strong outcomes, including publication of monographs and progression into academic careers. I am committed to supporting postgraduate researchers in developing independent research profiles and preparing for a range of career pathways.
External Roles and Engagement
I have held a number of external and sector-facing roles, including work with the British School at Rome, editorial responsibilities for leading journals, and service as an external examiner at UK and international institutions.
I have also contributed to public engagement through television and radio appearances and consultancy work for cultural institutions and exhibitions.
Expertise Summary
Senior higher education leader specialising in education and student experience strategy, curriculum transformation, assessment, and AI-enabled learning. Academic expertise in Roman cultural history and the history of the senses.
Teaching Summary
See main profile for overview of teaching and curriculum leadership.
Research Summary
See main profile for overview of research.
Recent Publications
BRADLEY, M., ed., 2022. 匂いと古代の感覚: (translated from the English volume Smell and the Ancient Senses, Routledge 2015) Fragrance Journal Ltd, Japan. (In Press.)
2022. The American Historical Review. 127(1), 261-309
BRADLEY, M., 2021. The triumph of the senses: sensory awareness and the divine in Roman public celebrations’. In: ALVAR, A., ALVAR EZQUERRA, J. and WOOLF, G., eds., Sensorium: Sensory Perceptions in Roman Religion Brill. (In Press.)
MARK BRADLEY, 2021. Scratch-and-sniff: recovering and rediscovering Roman aromas. In: ADELINE GRAND-CLEMENT and CHARLOTTE RIBEYROL, eds., The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination 1st. Bloomsbury. (In Press.)