Shushma Malik

Malik studied at the University of Bristol, completing a PhD in Classics and Ancient History in 2013.^[2] She joined the University of Cambridge in 2022, having previously lectured at the University of Manchester, the University of Queensland, and the University of Roehampton.^[3]

Her research focuses on the Roman emperors, particularly the emperor Nero, and on how Roman emperors were imagined in later cultures.^[4] Her monograph, The Nero-Antichrist: founding and fashioning a paradigm, described as "a sophisticated [...] reception history of Nero's legacy,"^[5] was published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press.^[6]

Malik is noted for her media appearances and outreach. She has twice appeared on In Our Time (radio series), discussing Tiberius in 2023,^[7] and Nero in 2019.^[8] She has appeared on several documentaries as an expert contributor,^[9] and her article on Statecraft and the Roman Republic was published in the programme for the National Theatre's production of Coriolanus.^[10] While a lecturer at the University of Queensland, she become known for her Mythbusting Ancient Rome series, written with Caillan Davenport and published on The Conversation.^[11]