Isabelle Torrance began her research career at Aarhus University with a 3-year fellowship at AIAS in 2016, coming from a tenured position as Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame in the US. During her AIAS fellowship stay, Torrance was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for her project on “Classical Influences and Irish Culture” (CLIC) (2019-2024). The ERC grant has allowed her to establish her own research group, which is based at Aarhus University, where Isabelle Torrance is professor of Classical Reception in English and Other Modern European Literatures and Cultures since 2019.

Her CLIC research group is investigating how classical models expose the shifting political structures of the nation through the politics of language, of conflict, of (post)colonialism, of gender, of identity. As part of her CLIC project, Torrance is developing a database that allows for new interdisciplinary research within both classical and modern literature, whereby she is contributing to the development of the field of ‘Classical Reception Studies’.

Isabelle Torrance is trained as a classical philologist. She has an outstanding and productive research career behind her, with already seven books and numerous research articles published. Her interdisciplinary work and her ability to establish synergy between classical studies and modern history make her a sought-after speaker among her peers as well as for a broader public audience.

“I wish Isabelle Torrance congratulations with the award. It is certainly well deserved, and at AIAS we are truly happy that Torrance as a former AIAS fellow contributes positively to Aarhus University. This is exactly one of the ideas behind AIAS,” said AIAS Director Søren Rud Keiding.

Short bio of Isabelle Torrance

Isabelle Torrance earned her PhD in Classics from Trinity College Dublin in 2004 and has previously held teaching and research positions at Trinity College Dublin, the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, the University of Nottingham, the University of Notre Dame, and the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies; she has also visited Stanford University on an invited fellowship.

Her books include Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes (London, 2007), Metapoetry in Euripides (Oxford, 2013), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (Berlin, 2014; co-authored), Aeschylus and War (London, 2017; edited volume), Euripides (London, 2019), Euripides: Iphigenia among the Taurians (London, 2019), and Classics and Irish Politics 1916-2016 (Oxford, 2020; co-edited volume). 

About the Victor Albeck Award

The Victor Albeck Award is a newly established award by the Aarhus University Research Foundation that acknowledges younger talented researchers who have contributed significantly to their research field. The recipient of the award is on top of the recognition given a prize of DKK 100,000.

Contact

Isabelle Torrance, Professor, AIAS Former Fellow
itorrance@cc.au.dk

Phone: +4593522172
Twitter: @CLIC_ERC

School of Communication and Culture - English
Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4
Building 1481, 560
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark