Leah Bernardo-Ciddio, who graduated from York with a double major in Classical Studies and History in 2013, has recently accepted a place at the University of Michigan to begin her PhD in the autumn of 2016. Ms Bernardo-Ciddio will hold a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship to support her research; she was also offered a very prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, which she had to decline, since it can only be held at Canadian institutions.

After graduating from York, Ms Bernardo-Ciddio completed an MPhil degree at the University of Oxford, where her studies were funded by the Ertegun Scholarship Programme in the Humanities.

At Michigan, Ms Bernardo-Ciddio plans to work with Dr Nicola Terrenato on the archaeology of central and southern Italy from the Iron Age to the third century BCE. The themes of her research will include state formation, the archaeology of settlements, local identity, cultural interaction, and 'colonization'.

Ms Bernardo-Ciddio plans to work on the excavations at Gabii during her doctoral studies. She also hopes to continue to be associated with the University of Alberta dig at Roccagloriosa in Western Lucania, where she taught in the field school this summer.

Many congratulations to Ms Bernardo-Ciddio: the Classical Studies Programme is immensely proud to count you amongst its alumnae.