Institute staff
Find out more about the staff who lead the Rylands including our researchers and PhD students.
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Hannah Barker, Director of the John Rylands Research Institute and Professor of British History
Hannah is a historian of industrial revolution England. She is Chair of Manchester Histories, a charity which works with people across Greater Manchester to transform lives through history and heritage, a Historical Advisor for the National Trust and a feoffee of Chetham’s charity.
View research profile
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Guyda Armstrong, Senior Lecturer in Italian and Digital Humanities Lead
Guyda is an early modern literary scholar who works at the intersection of book history, information design, and languages. As Faculty Digital Humanities Lead she directed the Manchester Digital Collections project, and is responsible for developing new digital and computational approaches for research across the Rylands collections.
Read more
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Kat Lowe, Manager of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Kat is responsible for the day to day running of the Rylands, including communications, grant management and research impact support. Kat has a PhD in English Literature from The University of Manchester specialising in early print and paratexts, and she has previously worked in a research support role in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.
Email Kat Lowe
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Aaron McGaughey, Grant Writer
Aaron works with Humanities researchers and JRRIL fellows to develop projects and apply for funding. Prior to joining The University of Manchester, he gained a PhD in Russian History from The University of Nottingham and worked on funded projects with partners from heritage, library and local history organisations.
Email Aaron McGaughey
Researchers
Find out more about the many researchers and PhD students working with the Rylands.
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
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Jake Benson
Research Associate, Persian Manuscripts
View Jake Benson's research profile
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Zsófia Buda
Research Associate, Hebrew Manuscripts
View Zsófia Buda's research profile
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Sonia Favi
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Travel in Tokugawa Period Japan (1603-1868): Identity , Nation and Social Transformation
View Sonia Favi's research profile
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Nil Palabiyik
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Learning Turkish in Early Modern Europe 1544-1680
View Nil Palabiyik's research profile
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Benjamin Pope
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, The Opression of the Nobility: Town, Country and Identity in Medieval Germany
View Benjamin Pope's research profile
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Brian Wallace
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, God from Machines: Techonology and Magic in Nineteenth Century Imperial Encounters
Contact Brian Wallace
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Rebecca Whiteley
Shreeve Fellow in the History of Medicine, The Visual Culture of Midwifery Training in Early Nineteenth Century Manchester
View Rebecca Whiteley's research profile
PhD students
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Yewande Adeniran
Yewande’s research focuses on a contemporary analysis of the ontology of Blackness with British-Nigerian individuals as the primary focus.
Read about Yewande's research
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Elizabeth Gow
Elizabeth’s research explores and analyses the book collecting of Enriqueta Rylands, founder of the John Rylands Library, to reveal what she acquired, how and for what purpose.
Read about Elizabeth's research
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Roxana Gregor-Som
Roxana’s research focuses on the social structure of the landowners and tenants in Hermopolis in the period after 400.
Read about Roxana's research
