Staff and Governance
Core Staff
The day-to-day running of IMEMS is the responsibility of the Core Executive Committee, comprising the Director and Associate Directors and the Administrator.

Prof Elizabeth Archibald
(email at e.f.archibald@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
Elizabeth Archibald has been Professor of English Studies at Durham since 2012. Before that she held posts at King's College, Cambridge; the University of Victoria (Canada); and Bristol University. She specializes in medieval romance and the classical tradition in the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in the Arthurian legend. She is co-editor of the journal Arthurian Literature, and a past President of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society. Her current research project is an interdisciplinary study of bathing in medieval literature and society.
She has published monographs on Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Variations (1991), and Incest and the Medieval Imagination (2001), and has co-edited A Companion to Malory with A.S.G. Edwards (1996), and The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend co-edited with Ad Putter (2009). Her many essays and chapters range over classical and medieval themes and texts, including Chaucer, Malory, Scottish literature, and bathing.
She teaches a range of medieval literature in both Middle English and French, and currently supervises a number of PhD students working on later medieval literary topics, particularly romance writing. She welcomes enquiries from postgraduate applicants in these areas.
Research Interests
- Classical tradition
- Medieval romance
Publications
Chapter in book
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2018). Malory and the Post-Vulgate Cycle. In Romance Rewritten: The Evolution of Middle English Romance. Archibald, Elizabeth, Leitch, Megan & Saunders, Corinne Boydell & Brewer. 115-132.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2015). Bathing for Beauty in the Middle Ages. In The Recovery of Beauty: Arts, Culture, Medicine. Saunders, Corinne, Macnaughton, Jane & Fuller, David London: Palgrave Macmillan. 53-71.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2015). Relative Roles in Medieval Incest Stories: Fathers and Daughters. In Desir n’a repos: Hommage à Danielle Bohler. Bouchet, Florence & James-Raoul, Danièle Pessac: Presses universitaires de Bordeaux. 177-188.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2015). Ruodlieb and Romance in Latin: Audience and Authorship. In Telling the Story in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honor of Evelyn Birge Vitz. Duys, Kathryn, Emery, Elizabeth & Postlewate, Laurie Boydell & Brewer. 171-186.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2011). 'Arthurian Latin Romance'. In The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature. Echard, Siân. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 132-145.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2010). 'Macaronic Poetry'. In A Companion to Medieval Poetry. Saunders, Corinne. Maldon, MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 277-288.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2010). 'Sisters under the Skin: Margery Kempe and Christine de Pizan'. In Romance and Rhetoric: Essays In Honour of Dhira B. Mahoney. Donavin, Georgiana & Obermeier, Anita. Turnhout: Brepols. 19: 91-107.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2009). 'Malory’s Lancelot and Guenevere'. In A Companion to Arthurian Literature. Fulton, Helen Maldon, MA and Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 312-325.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2009). ‘Non-Recognition in Sir Triamour: The Reversal of Romance Expectations’. In Recognition: The Poetics of Narrative: Interdisciplinary Studies on Anagnorisis. Kennedy, Philip & Lawrence, Marilyn New York: Peter Lang. 62-80.
Edited book
- Archibald, Elizabeth, Leitch, Megan & Saunders, Corinne (2018). Romance Rewritten: The Evolution of Middle English Romance - A Tribute to Helen Cooper. Studies in Medieval Romance. Boydell & Brewer.
- Archibald, Elizabeth & Putter, Ad. (2009). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Journal Article
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2019). Mordred’s Lost Childhood. Arthuriana 29(1): 77-87.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2018). Some Uses of Direct Speech in the Stanzaic 'Morte Arthur' and Malory. Arthuriana 28(3): 66-85.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2014). Love and Marriage in the Breton Lays. Études Épistémè (25).
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2014). Variations on romance themes in the 'Historia Meriadoci'. Journal of the International Arthurian Society 2(1): 3-19.
- Archibald, Elizabeth (2013). 'The Flight from Incest as a Latin Play: the Comoedia sine nomine, Petrarch and the Avignon Papacy'. Medium Ævum 82(1): 81-100.
Full Executive Committee
Our Full Executive Committee is made up of the Core Executive Committee, listed above, plus a number of executive members including:
International Advisory Board
We are extremely fortunate to have be able to call on the help and guidance of colleagues from around the world who help to shape and guide our direction, strategy and international reach. Our current Advisory Board members are: