Hansen Associate Professor Jenny Spinks is a historian of early modern Europe at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Arts. She joined the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies in 2017 as the Hansen Senior Lecturer in History, following four years as Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Manchester. Her career began in contemporary art galleries with curatorial roles in art and craft, evolving into academic research through postgraduate studies in art history and visual culture, culminating in a PhD. Now promoted to Hansen Associate Professor in Early Modern History, she chairs the Education and Student Committees in SHAPS. Spinks teaches core subjects including Witch Hunts in Early Modern Europe (HIST20080), History of Violence (HIST30068), Medieval Plague, War and Heresy, and The Long History of Globalisation, emphasizing object-based learning and study tours.

Spinks' scholarship examines northern Europe between 1450 and 1700, focusing on visual and material culture as sources for understanding print culture, propaganda, grotesque imagery, wonder books, supernatural beliefs, disasters, and prodigies. As team leader of the ARC Discovery Project "Albrecht Dürer’s Material World: In Melbourne, Manchester and Nuremberg," she investigates the material aspects of Dürer's Nemesis engraving, Nuremberg's book culture, and pathways of rare Nuremberg prints and books into Melbourne collections. She has co-curated significant exhibitions: Albrecht Dürer’s Material Renaissance (University of Melbourne, 2024), The Four Horsemen: Apocalypse, Death and Disaster, and global perspectives on magic, witches, and devils at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne) and John Rylands Library (Manchester). Her influential publications include the monograph Monstrous Births and Visual Culture in Sixteenth-Century Germany (2009, paperback 2016), co-edited volumes such as After Luther: Visual Culture, Materiality and the Legacy of 1517, and articles in leading journals including Renaissance Studies, Past & Present, and Art History. Spinks has held prestigious fellowships at the Warburg Institute, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, and Herzog August Bibliothek, enhancing her contributions to the field through international collaborations and public engagement.

Professional Email: jspinks@unimelb.edu.au