Dr Janet Wade was awarded her doctorate from Macquarie University in 2018. She also completed her Bachelor of Ancient History (Honours) and Postgraduate Certificate in Ancient History at Macquarie University. Janet has taught undergraduate and postgraduate units focusing on Late Antiquity and Byzantium and has also worked in the Office of Higher Degree Research Training and Partnerships as Scholarships Officer and HDR Partnerships Coordinator.

Janet was awarded the Macquarie-Gale British School at Rome Fellowship in 2018 and the British School at Rome’s Library and Archive Award in 2020. In 2021, she was awarded an Australian Academy of the Humanities Travelling Fellowship and Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment (CACHE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. In addition to her research, she practices freelance editing and proofreading. She is currently an Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University and Early Career Research Affiliate with the Centre for Ancient Cultural Heritage and Environment (CACHE).

Janet’s research interests include seafaring deities, maritime rituals and practices, and the social history of sailors and merchants from the late Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium. She has a particular interest in seafaring and mercantile goddesses such as Isis Pelagia, Fortuna/Isis-Fortuna and Athena.

Janet also conducts research on ancient Roman roads and their related monuments, particularly their representation in early archival and photographic material, and the ways in which the roads and monuments have been integrated into the modern landscape and into early modern and contemporary society. 

Janet has published on maritime social and material culture, seafaring cults and marine symbolism, and on her current study of the work conducted by Thomas Ashby (former director of the British School at Rome) and his companions on the ancient roads and countryside of Italy.