Steering Committee
Dr Elena (Ellie) Woodacre, Founder and Head of the Steering Committee, K&Q Conference Coordinator
​
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
​
​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 Dustin M. Neighbors, Membership Coordinator and Website Manager
​
Dr Dustin Neighbors is a postdoctoral researcher and the Project Coordinator for the EU Horizon funded consortium project, Colour4CRAFTS, with the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. As a historian of northern European and British cultural history utilising digital research tools, Dustin specialises in the history of monarchy and court culture, with an emphasis on the performativity of gender, material culture and dress history, cultural practices (i.e. hunting), and the political culture of spectacles within the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
​
He is currently working on three interconnected projects. For the first project, which was awarded a Janet Arnold Grant from the Society of Antiquaries, Dustin has comparatively examined the material culture, dress, and textiles of early modern hunting to better understand the lives of royal and noble figures between the 16th and 18th centuries, including August and Electress Anna of Saxony in Dresden and Queen Christina of Sweden. As part of this project, Dustin has collaborated with the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, the Royal Dress Collection in the UK, the Cleveland Museum of Art in the USA, and the V&A Museum in the UK. Second, Dustin is examining the meaning of colour and colouration practices at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden, which is directly tied to the Colour4CRAFTS project. Third, Dustin is cultivating a larger project on the cultural heritage, politics and practices of early modern hunting, particularly women’s engagement with hunting, and its environmental elements in northern Europe.
​
Dustin is the lead co-editor of the edited volume, Notions of Privacy at Early Modern European Courts: Reassessing the Public/Private Divide (AUP, 2024). He is currently working on his first monograph with Routledge.
Dr Johanna Strong, Social Media Coordinator and DSS Convenor
​
Dr Johanna Strong completed her PhD at the University of Winchester (under the supervision of Dr Ellie Woodacre and Dr Simon Sandall) looking at the ways in which Mary I was posthumously represented and the reasons behind these depictions. ‘The Making of a Queen: The Effect of Religion, National Identity, and Gender on Mary I’s Legacy in the English Historical Narrative’ examines the ways in which Mary I’s legacy was posthumously created and how this legacy is perpetuated through to the period of the English Republic. She completed her MA at Queen’s University in Canada (her home country!) under the supervision of Dr Jeffrey Collins.
​
Her research has been featured in two Winchester Heritage Open Days “Hampshire HistBites” episodes, on the Team Queens blog, with Tudors Dynasty, on the Tudor Society site, on the Talking Tudors podcast, and most recently in a series for Winchester Cathedral. Her first chapter was published in early 2022 in Valerie Schutte and Jessica S. Hower’s Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction. Johanna is currently working on writing her first monograph, which will feature her doctoral research.
​
Johanna currently divides her time between her research and her position as a History Teacher. If you’d like to follow her research, she can be found on Twitter (@jo_strong_), Instagram (@_johanna.strong_), Bluesky (@johannastrong.bsky.social), Threads (@_johanna.strong_), and her website.
​
Dr Aleksandra Ziober, Generał Secretary and Newsletter Editor
​​
Dr Aleksandra Ziober is an assistant professor at the University of Wrocław, specializing in the political and social history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. She defended her doctoral thesis in 2018, focusing on the political attitudes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's elites during the elections of Władysław IV Vasa and Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki. That same year, she began her academic career as an assistant professor at the University of Wrocław, where she continues to work. In 2019, she was awarded the Minister of Science and Higher Education's scholarship for outstanding young scientists in Poland, a prestigious recognition of her academic excellence.
​
Dr. Ziober has led several prestigious research projects, including two funded by the National Science Center. One examined the political attitudes of the Lithuanian elites, while the other focused on the social and economic clientele of Jan StanisÅ‚aw Sapieha, contributing significantly to the study of political factions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Additionally, she has received numerous scholarships, conducting research in leading institutions across Europe, including Madrid, London, Innsbruck, Würzburg, etc.
​
Dr. Ziober has authored several publications, including the monograph Postawy elit Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego wobec elekcji Władysława IV Wazy i Michała Korybuta Wiśniowieckiego (The Attitudes of the Elites of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Towards the Elections of Ladislaus IV Vasa and Michał Korybut Wisniowiecki, 2020) and numerous articles in leading academic journals.
​
If you’d like to follow her research, you can find her on Twitter (@AZiober89), Academia, and Instagram (@historiansjourneys_pl).
Deanna Morris-Stacey, Resources Coordinator
​
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.
​
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.
​
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
​
​
​Saira Baker, Blog Co-Coordinator
​
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.
​
Lucy Haigh, Blog Co-Coordinator
​
Lucy Haigh is a PhD candidate at University of Sheffield where she is researching queenship and femininity in the political press by analysing Alexandra of Denmark, Princess of Wales, Queen Consort, and Queen Mother from 1863 to 1925. Examining Alexandra provides opportunity to analyse the performance of femininity due to her status as a fashion icon, in addition to how she contributed towards a cosmopolitan British monarchy. Lucy will consider social phenomena such as the rise of democracy, republicanism, and the “woman question”. In addition to her studies and roles as Listings Editor for the Royal Studies Journal and Blog Co-Coordinator for the Royal Studies Blog, Lucy is also the Publicity Officer for History Lab at the Institute of Historical Research, and a Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Blog Team
​
Saira Baker, Andy McMillin, Elena Teibenbacher, Lucy Haigh, Aleksandra Ziober and Kurtis Pope
​​​
Podcast Team
​
Ellie Woodacre, Saira Baker, Victoria Barlow, Johanna Strong, and Susannah Lyon-Whaley