Academic Background

I am a graduate in Modern Languages from Balliol College, University of Oxford, where I studied for my BA Hons, MSt and DPhil degrees in Italian.

Research

My research investigates literary responses to uncertainty in fifteenth-century Italian humanism, examining the ethical and predictive forms of reasoning through which humanists sought to manage risk and anticipate future events. It explores how they transformed moral and natural philosophy through literary expression into practical resources for prediction, judgement and action. 

A central strand of my work explores the humanist recovery and reinterpretation of Greek and Latin moral principles as practical resources for regulating behaviour and establishing more dependable social relationships. My research examines how the humanist polymath Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) refashioned ‘fides’ (‘loyalty’, ‘trust’) into a practical ethical instrument for maintaining social, economic and political stability in fifteenth-century Italian society. I argue that Alberti conceived loyalty as a mechanism for aligning expectations of future conduct, reducing uncertainty in social relationships and providing the foundation of justice and political order.

My developing research extends this investigation of uncertainty by exploring how early fifteenth-century Italian humanists reasoned about the future, examining the authorities and practices that shaped their approaches to prediction. It addresses these questions through the largely unexplored connections between Italian humanist forecasting and the astrological scholarship of the fourteenth-century Oxford Calculators. Focusing on the works of Leon Battista Alberti, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1397–1482) and their intellectual networks, I investigate how the astrological and meteorological scholarship associated with Merton fellows John Ashenden (fellow c.1337–55) and William Rede (fellow 1344–57) intersected with Italian humanist practices of predictive reasoning, agricultural astrology and prognostication.

My broader intellectual interests centre on questions of loyalty, trust, certainty and innovation within social and economic networks, and on the ways in which historical perspectives can illuminate contemporary challenges. I am strongly committed to public engagement and outreach, regularly presenting talks and writing for industry and public-facing publications aimed at wider non-specialist audiences.

Teaching

I am College Lecturer in Modern Languages (Italian) at Keble College where I teach Italian Prelims and Final Honours School Italian Literature Papers. In the Italian Sub-Faculty, I lecture on Italian Renaissance Literature and teach pre-modern Italian translation and modern Italian translation to undergraduates.

University of Oxford, Final Honours School in Modern Languages (Italian):
Paper IIA (Italian Translation) 
Paper III (Pre-Modern Italian Translation) 
Paper VII (Literature 1430-1635) 
Paper IX (Dante's Commedia) 
Paper X (Early Prescribed Authors)

Selected Publications

Articles 

‘Redefining originality in Alberti’s ‘mosaic’ for judicial determination in De iure (1437)’, Albertiana, 27.1 (n.s. 10), 2025

‘Martin McLaughlin and his Studies on Leon Battista Alberti: Perspectives on a Legacy’, Modern Language Review, 105.4, October 2025

Seminars and Conference Papers

‘Betrayal, Slander and the Restoration of Justice: Alberti's Rules for Governance’, University of Oxford Italian Research Seminar, 11 May 2026 

‘Reputation as social capital: the economy of ‘fama’ in I libri della famiglia (1433-43)’, University of Oxford Italian Research Seminar, 16 June 2025

‘The Elements of Justice in Leon Battista Alberti’s De iure (1437)’, The 16th Annual Harvard-Brown Graduate Student Conference in Italian Studies: Chiasmi 2025, 4 April 2025

‘Innovative Designs for Justice: Leon Battista Alberti’s De iure (1437)’, Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting 2025, 22 March 2025

‘Leon Battista Alberti’s theory on cultivating loyalty in the civil context’, University of Oxford Italian Research Seminar, 10 June 2024

‘The Ethics of Loyalty: decoding the loyalty gene in the works of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)’,  University of Oxford Italian Research Seminar, 12 June 2023

Awards & Scholarships

University of Oxford Isaiah Berlin Fund Scholarship 

University of Oxford Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty Graduate Grant

Balliol College Graduate Project Award 

Fondazione ‘Centro Studi di Leon Battista Alberti’ Scholarship

Balliol College Brassey Prize

Balliol College Brassey Scholarship