Dr Lilah Grace Canevaro named as 2024 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winner

The Philip Leverhulme Prizes recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding researchers, awarding a total of £3 million to 30 outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition, and whose future careers are exceptionally promising.

Dr Lilah Grace Canevaro, Senior Lecturer in Classics and Classics Outreach Officer within the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, has been named as a 2024 winner for her work on Greek literature, ancient hexameter poetry, new materialisms, gender studies, comparative literature, classical reception, environmental humanities, cognitive humanities, class and classics.

"The Leverhulme Trust supported my research from 2013 as an Early Career Fellow, and it was with that Fellowship that I came to Edinburgh. Now, a decade, two children, three monographs and a Senior Lectureship later, it is wonderful to receive this immense accolade from the Trust in recognition of my work. With the Philip Leverhulme Prize I plan to continue to promote inclusive strategies for reading ancient literature and its reception," Dr Canevaro said. 

"I will be working on a book about William Morris’ Classical Reception. William Morris (1834-96) might now be known primarily for his textile designs, but in his lifetime he connected with people of all classes through story - people’s stories from the past, present and (utopian) future. Classics is present from the very beginnings of Morris’ poetry to his late novels, as he views and critiques modernity through antiquity. What made Morris such a prolific translator, poet and novelist, and how did the Classics resonate with the political story he wanted to tell? Through the framework of Classical Reception I reveal that Morris was mobilising the Classics to push for political action. Morris’ combination of Classics and Socialism promotes the democratisation of Classics, and as such can help guide us out of the current class-divided impasse in our discipline. This project will be underpinned also by my commitment to the Network for Working-Class Classicists."

Dr Canevaro will receive her award in March 2025, at a ceremony in Drapers’ Hall. 

The School sends its warmest congratulations on this achievement.