Steering Committee
Dr Elena (Ellie) Woodacre, Founder and Head of the Steering Committee, K&Q Conference Coordinator
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Dr Woodacre is a Reader in Renaissance History at the University of Winchester. She is a specialist in queenship and royal studies and has published extensively in this area including her monographs, The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Partnership and Politics, 1274-1512 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and Queens and Queenship (ARC Humanities Press, 2021), which explores queenship in a theoretical, longue durée and global sense, and a biography of Joan of Navarre: Infanta, Duchess, Queen, Witch? (Routledge, 2022). Elena has edited several collections: Queenship in the Mediterranean (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), The Image and Perception of Monarchy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Cambridge Scholars, 2014), Royal Mothers and their Ruling Children (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), Virtuous or Villainess? The Image of the Royal Mother from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern Eras (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), A Companion to Global Queenship (ARC Medieval Press, 2018), Premodern Rulers and Postmodern Viewers (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) and The Routledge History of Monarchy (Routledge, 2019) and most recently, she co-edited a volume of the English Consorts: Power, Influence and Dynasty collection on the later medieval queens with Joanna Laynesmith (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023). Elena is the organizer of the ‘Kings & Queens’ conference series, founder of the Royal Studies Network, Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Studies Journal and the editor of the Gender and Power in the Premodern World series (ARC Humanities Press) and the Lives of Royal Women series (Routledge). She is also leading an international project entitled ‘Examining the Resources and Revenues of Premodern European Royal Women’, with a team of colleagues in Germany, Portugal and the UK (https://www.queensresources.org/).
Dr Zita Rohr, External Conference Coordinator
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​Dr Zita Eva Rohr is a political historian of the late medieval and early modern periods with research interests spanning gender, family, households and courts, female networks, epistolary, and collaborative rulership as well as the longue durée premodern political and diplomatic history of France, Aragon-Catalonia, and Naples-Sicily. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Honorary Research Fellow at Macquarie University in the Department of History and Archaeology. In 2004, Zita was accorded a knighthood from the French Ministry for Education and admitted to the Ordre des Palmes Académiques for her contribution to French education, research, and culture. She has published a monograph Yolande of Aragon, Family and Power 1381-1442: The Reverse of the Tapestry (Palgrave Macmillan 2016), and has edited two essay collections with Lisa Benz, Queenship, Gender and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060-1600 (Palgrave Macmillan 2016), and Queenship and the Women of Westeros: Female Agency and Advice in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire (Palgrave Macmillan 2020). With Elena Woodacre, she collaborated as a section editor for The Routledge History of Monarchy (Routledge 2019). Her most recent books are edited collections with Jonathan Spangler, Significant Others: Aspects of Deviance and Difference in Premodern Court Cultures (Routledge, 2022); and with Gabrielle Storey Premodern Ruling Sexualities: Representation, Identity and Power (Manchester University Press, 2024). Her second monograph, Anne de France and Her Family, (1325–1522): Genealogies of Premodern Gendered Power and Influence is in press with Palgrave Macmillan.
Dr María José de la Torre Molina, General Secretary
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Dr María José de la Torre Molina is Professor of Musicology at the University of Málaga (Spain), where she teaches in the Department of Historical Sciences (Faculty of Humanities). She is the Vice-President of the Spanish Musicological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Having graduated in Piano studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Málaga, María José subsequently completed a Licenciatura in History of Art and Musicology (with Premio Extraordinario) and a PhD in the University of Granada. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, on three occasions and has also taught at the University of Barcelona, Complutense University of Madrid, and Sapienza University of Rome. Her research has focused on royal studies through the lens of music, with particular emphasis on how music, royal ceremonial and public ritual were used to communicate political power and project the public image of the Spanish Monarchy across its territories between 1700 and 1843, especially in royal proclamations, royal funerals, and other dynastic celebrations. María José is the author of several monographs and numerous book chapters and articles published in leading scholarly journals.
Professor Caroline Dunn, Membership Secretary
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Dr Caroline Dunn is a professor of medieval Europe at Clemson University and author of two books: Stolen Women in Medieval England: Rape, Abduction, and Adultery c. 1100-1500 (Cambridge, 2012) and Ladies-in-Waiting in Medieval England (Cambridge, 2024). She is currently in the beginning stages of a new project that continues her interest in the operations of medieval English monarchy. In 2016 Caroline co-organized the 5th annual Kings and Queens conference, its first gathering outside of Europe. ​
Dr Patrik Pastrnak, Newsletter Secretary
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Dr Patrik Pastrnak is an associate professor at the Department of History, Palacký University, Olomouc. He holds a DPhil in History at the New College, Oxford, and specialises in royal weddings and wedding journeys, and more broadly in royal, court, and queenship studies, and Latin Humanism in Central Europe and Italy. His first monography Dynasty in Motion. Wedding Journey in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe was published in 2023 by Routledge. Currently, he is a principal investigator of the grant project "Reconfiguring Bohemian Queenship: Power, Resources, and Effects in ca. 1300–1500" (funded by the Czech Science Foundation, no. 25–16410M, https://reginalita.ff.upol.cz/en/reginalita-uvod-english/)
Victoria Barlow, Social Media Secretary
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Coming soon.
Inês Olaia, Digital Seminar Convenor
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Coming soon.
Deanna Morris-Stacey, Website Manager and Resources Coordinator
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Deanna Morris-Stacey is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Programs and Leadership at the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR)- The College System of Tennessee, the governing body for community and technical colleges in Tennessee, USA. In this role, she oversees leadership development initiatives, including the Maxine Smith Leadership Series, which supports the growth of emerging and senior leaders across higher education. Her work focuses on designing and managing programs that enhance leadership capacity and drive innovation within educational institutions.
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Since joining TBR in 2006, Deanna has contributed to major educational reforms and statewide initiatives, including the Complete College Tennessee Act and programs aimed at increasing access to higher education, such as TN Promise and TN Reconnect. She has also led strategic projects in organizational effectiveness and supported efforts to foster diversity and leadership through the Maxine Smith Fellows Program.
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Before joining TBR, Deanna participated in the startup and accreditation of a private college and taught English at the secondary level. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Education from Lee University and a Master of Arts in Education from Cumberland University. Her expertise in leadership development, project management, and educational innovation continues to shape initiatives that impact higher education in Tennessee and beyond.
Outreach Coordinator - VACANT
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​Saira Baker, Blog Co-Coordinator
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Saira Baker is an historian specialising in 19th and 20th century European monarchy. She is also a researcher and producer. Her most recent producing work as been with the BBC World Service and Radio 4. She lives and works in London.
Saira began her undergraduate career at the University of Bedfordshire in 1997, completing her BA (Hons) degree in Drama with Technical Theatre. After a long career in the theatre industry under her belt it was time for a change. Pursuing her interest in the history of monarchy, Saira returned to academia, completing her BA (Hons) degree in History with the OU.
Her research interests include the role of queens and crown princesses in court politics and international diplomacy. She is currently developing new research into the lives of Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII and Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
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Kurtis Pope, Blog Co-Coordinator
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Kurtis Pope is a postgraduate researcher in history at the University of Winchester, whose doctoral research explores the representation of premodern queens in modern popular culture, focusing on Kleopatra VII, Seondeok, Wu Zetian, and Elizabeth I. Their research interests centre on global premodern queenship, particularly East Asian queenship between c.600 and 1200, with a comparative approach to female rulership across cultures. Their MA dissertation examined the religious and ideological patronage of ten reigning queens in seventh- and eighth-century East Asia and in twelfth-century Mediterranean Europe. They are also the Co-Coordinator of the Royal Studies Blog (RSB) and Curator of the Asian Queenship Blog.
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Blog Team
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Saira Baker, Kurtis Pope, Megan Barber, Andy McMillin, Elena Teibenbacher, Clair Josephs, Rae Tunstall, Taylor Kniphfer, Jessica Howard, Emily Baines, Laurie Seiters, Charlotte Thorkildsen, Veronika Hejlová, Adam Bowley, Lucy Haigh, Noé Vagner-Clévenot, Aleksandra Ziober
Podcast Team
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Ellie Woodacre, Saira Baker, Victoria Barlow, Johanna Strong, and Susannah Lyon-Whaley