The College is primarily an academic research institution with particular strengths in the humanities and social and theoretical sciences and an outstanding library. It also has strong ties to public life. Although its Fellows are involved in teaching and supervision of research, there are no undergraduate members.

Some current Fellows introduce their research on this page. Please see the Research and People pages for a fuller account of Fellows’ current research.

Fluid Locomotion Across Scales

Creatures of all sizes have evolved to move through fluid environments. I am interested in combining theory and experiment to understand the challenges and adaptations associated with swimming across scales.

I have worked on locomotive strategies in snakes on slippery surfaces, and gecko escape mechanisms at the air-water interface. Currently, I am interested in the mechanics and energetics of the nanoscale motor that drives flagellated swimming in several bacteria, including pathogens like E. coli.

My research aims to provide insight into how nature has shaped its best swimmers for better hydrodynamics, and how we can harness this knowledge to design robots that can navigate a wider variety of environments.

Early Modern Intellectual History

A depiction of a Zoroastrian priest from Thomas Hyde’s 'Historia religionis veterum Persarum'
A depiction of a Zoroastrian priest from Thomas Hyde’s 'Historia religionis veterum Persarum' (Oxford, 1700), the first European study of Persian religion based on native sources. This book is discussed in detail in Levitin’s 'Ancient wisdom'

My main field of interest is the intellectual history of Europe – and its relations with the extra-European world – between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. I have written about philosophical, scientific, medical, religious, historical, legal and political thought in this period. While I have published findings about famous individuals and institutions (including Isaac Newton, Edmond Halley, Robert Boyle, the pioneering Hebraist John Spencer, and the earliest period of the Society of Apothecaries), I am above all interested in large-scale patterns of change that transcend the influence of any individual or group. 

Island Societies in Classical Antiquity

My interests include the study of island societies in Classical antiquity, early Greek religion, and the development and transformation of political identities in the Archaic to Hellenistic Greek world. My current research is focused in the Ionian islands and north-western Greece, where I direct fieldwork on Ithaca on behalf of the British School at Athens and participate in field projects on Kephallonia, Leukas, and Meganisi. I am writing a book on the Ionian islands from the Archaic period to Roman times, examining such issues as the economic and political forces operating to unite or fragment the archipelago, the impact of colonisation, and the nature of migration and its effects upon the development of political communities.

Evolution of Infections

My work concerns the dynamics and evolution of infections. I am interested in how quickly infections grow inside individuals, and also how fast they spread amongst individuals.

One of my projects asks if we can design individualised treatment regimens for people with chronic viral infections.

In a second project we ask how immune-driven evolution of HIV is causing new variants to spread through the human population.