Alumni profile: Dr Renée Ward

Dr Renée Ward is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Lincoln. Her research interests include the literature of the medieval period, Middle English romance, the monstrous, and medievalism, especially in children’s literature. Currently, Renée is working on a book focusing on werewolves in medieval romance, and researches medieval outlaw ballads. She is well-known for her published work on the medievalism of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Dr Renée Ward, alumna of the Institute for Medieval Studies, is now a Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Lincoln

Renée completed her MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds in 2000, with a dissertation on Joan of Arc supervised by Professor Ros Brown-Grant. Since graduating, Renée has continued her academic career – starting with an MA English at Wilfrid Laurier University (2002) and a PhD in English from the University of Alberta (2009). Before joining the University of Lincoln in 2016 to take up her current post, Renée worked at Wilfrid Laurier University. She also taught at the University of Alberta and the University of Lethbridge Edmonton Campus.

Talking about her time at the Institute for Medieval Studies, Renée said:

My year at Leeds was life-changing. I made some amazing friends (still in touch with a number of my fellow students), and, thanks to Andrew Wawn, discovered the path that would take me through my PhD and still informs much of my research today: medievalism. The module I took with Andrew — Medieval to Modern — had immense impact on my research.

You can find out more about Renée’s research on her staff profile at the University of Lincoln.