Ellen Adams

I received my PhD on Minoan Crete from the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge, in 2004, having participated in archaeological fieldwork in Britain, Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Before arriving at King’s in 2007, I held a Leverhulme Studentship based at the British School at Athens, and an IRCHSS Postdoctoral Fellowship based at Trinity College Dublin. This research has culminated in a monograph with CUP (2017), and I now co-organize the ICS Mycenaean Seminars.

I am currently researching how Classics may engage with disability studies (edited volume, 2021). My work focuses on the experience of Deaf and blind or partially sighted people in museums, using audio description, touch tours and British Sign Language. This includes ‘Access All Senses’ events that explore their potential impact on the mainstream experience (e.g. in the Courtauld Gallery and the British Museum). I established the Museum Access Network for Sensory Impairments (London) in 2018 (www.mansil.uk).

Research interests
Minoan (Neopalatial) Crete
Classics and disability studies
Museums’ access programmes and art appreciation (audio description, touch tours, and British Sign Language tours)
www.mansil.uk (Museum Access Network for Sensory Impairments, London)