AAIA’s new Director keen to extend focus on “experiences of Australia’s Greek community today”

The University of Sydney’s Australian Archaeological Institute of Athens (AAIA) will be welcoming its new Director, experienced field archaeologist and scholar Professor Tamar Hodos, in the second half of 2023.

Professor Hodos, who will be departing from her current academic position at the University of Bristol, UK, will also take take up the role of Chair of Classical Archaeology at Sydney University .

“She comes at an exciting time in the history of the Institute and with new ideas and initiatives into how we engage a range of audiences with the fascinating world of Hellenistic studies,” said the School of Humanities Head, Professor Keith Dobney.

In a welcoming message published on the University of Sydney website announcing the appointment, Prof Hodos is presented as an incoming director “focused on creating career pathways in the study of Hellenic culture for students and researchers.”

In working towards that goal, Prof Hodos sees the strengthening of links between the AAIA and Australia’s Greek community as a prerequisite.

“I appreciate the work and contribution of the Greek-Australian Diaspora in creating and supporting this unique Institution in Australia. As its Director, I am keen to extend the Institute’s growing focus on the experiences of Australia’s Greek community today.”

One of 18 foreign research facilities established in Athens focusing on Greek, and wider Mediterranean studies, Sydney’s Australian Archaeological Institute of Athens (AAIA) focuses heavily on archaeological fieldwork and research but its primary stated mission is to “promote Greek studies in Australia and to foster wider Australian involvement with Greek cultural output.”

Within this context, the Institute offers assistance to Australian students and scholars looking in furthering and disseminating their research on the Greek antiquity or other periods of Greek history.

The ongoing work and new directorship of the institute is supported by a generous $6 million bequest by its founder, Greek-born archaeology Professor Alexander Cambitoglou AO, who passed in 2019.

Dr Hodos will be taking over from Dr Stavros Paspalas, currently Acting Director of Sydney’s Australian Archaeological Institute of Athens.