Dr Kit Morrell is the Susan Blake Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Queensland, a position she has held since July 2020. She also serves as Director of Honours, Discipline Honours Coordinator, and Discipline Engagement officer. Morrell earned her Doctor of Philosophy in 2014, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Sydney. Her career includes an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellowship at the University of Melbourne and a postdoctoral position at the University of Amsterdam, where she examined the impact of the Augustan marriage legislation on Roman women’s legal and property rights as part of the OIKOS Anchoring Innovation project. She previously taught at the University of Sydney.

Morrell’s research specializations include Roman republican history and politics, particularly the late Roman Republic; Roman law encompassing public law, extortion laws, tutela mulierum, guardianship of women, and Roman women’s property rights; reform programmes and practices in the Roman Republic; the rule of law in ancient Rome; imperialism and provincial governance; and ancient historiography. Her ARC DECRA project, ‘Reforming the Roman Republic’ (DE190101106, 2019–2022), investigates the idea and practice of reform, including systemic reforms, long-term policies, and non-legislative strategies. Key publications comprise her monograph Pompey, Cato, and the Governance of the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2017); co-edited The Alternative Augustan Age with Josiah Osgood and Kathryn Welch (Oxford University Press, 2019); forthcoming co-edited The Rule of Law in Ancient Rome (2025); journal articles such as ‘P. Clodius Pulcher and the praetorship that never was’ (Historia 72.1, 2023) and ‘Tutela mulierum and the Augustan marriage laws’ (Eugesta 10, 2020); and book chapters including ‘Women and legal change in the Roman Republic’ (2024) and ‘Enabling laws, rule of law, and the transformation of the Roman Republic’ (2025). She supervises honours and postgraduate students on Roman history and related topics.

Professional Email: k.morrell@uq.edu.au