Ray Laurence

Ray Laurence is Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University (Sydney - Australia). He has previously taught at the Universities of Reading, Birmingham and Kent in the England.

He has throughout his career (first book published in 1994) advocated that Roman history and archaeology are two means to the past that need to be studied together.

Much of his work features an engagement with contemporary thinking from a range of disciplines that are involve the study of urban space, ageing and the life course, and the study of everyday life in the Roman Empire.

Moving to Australia in 2017, Ray has been struck by the sheer scale of Ancient History in Australia with over 10,000 students taking Higher Schools Certificate (HSC) in the subject, and substantial numbers enrolled at University - actually far higher than in the UK.