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Meet our Research Scholarship winners: Thomas Willis

24 July 2020

Find out more about Thomas and his research in his spotlight interview below.

Thomas Willis

1. Hi Tom, congratulations on winning a UCL research scholarship! Tell us a bit about yourself…

Thanks! I’m from the provinces: Powys and Shropshire. I recently finished the Reception of the Classical World MA at UCL. I live in London. I’m an editor at the literary magazine Pericles at Play. 

2. How did you feel when you found out you had been awarded the scholarship?

Goofy, giddy, great.

3. Tell us a bit about your research.

I’m looking at the poet W. H. Auden’s work and his use of antiquity. I’m based in the Department of Greek and Latin. Auden’s often read as stuffy or seedy, but I think his work is incredibly cool and weird. He plays with Marx, Freud, Shakespeare in all sorts of unusual ways, mixing them up with the ancient and the modern.

4. Why did you choose to study at UCL?

My supervisors at UCL are just incredibly good and interesting, radical and cool. There’s this wonderful wending of the political, the theoretical, and the ancient in the department. Greek and Latin is a very exciting and effortlessly modern place to be.

5. What song would you like to contribute to the Joint Faculties lockdown playlist?

800 db cloud by 100 Gecs. They destabilise music and puke tradition.  

Find out more about UCL Scholarships and Funding