I came to UEA in 2019, after having taught English literature from 650 to 1550 at the University of Oxford. I grew up in Belgium in a Dutch-Canadian family and completed my BA (Hons) at McGill University in Montreal, followed by an MPhil and DPhil at Oxford.

Coming from an international background, I am especially interested in how those in the Middle Ages crossed borders, experienced cultural exchange, and envisaged the world - and their place in it. My current research interests include the relationships between literature and cultural geography, especially borders and boundaries, displacement and exile, migration, travel, intercultural contact and exchange, national/regional/local identities, outlaws and outlawry, and conceptions of home. More generally, I am also interested in multilingualism and translation, historiography, material culture, and human relationships with the natural world.

I primarily work on medieval romances and historical texts in Middle English, Insular French, and Latin, but hold an interest in Old English and continental French literature too. 

My monograph, Writing Regional Identities in Medieval England: From the Gesta Herwardi to Richard Coer de Lyon (2020), examines how medieval texts depict and construct identities for those living in regions of cultural contact. I have also published articles on medieval lyrics and romances, and I co-edited Discovering William of Malmesbury (2017). 

At UEA I teach a range of modules that cover the Classical period to the present day. I currently co-convene the first year module "English Literature: Beginnings", where we examine literature from the Middle Ages to 1900. I often have the pleasure of teaching on our range of medieval and early modern modules in the second and third years, including Shakespeare, as well as first year modules like 'Epic Storytelling and Ancient Myth' and 'Writing Across Borders'.

From 2024 I am one of LDC's Senior Advisers.