Research Students
The Leverhulme Trust has provided funding for three students to do PhDs at the University of St Andrews on topics related to the After Augustine Project. They are pursuing research on the reception of Augustine by the 9th century biblical commentator Sedulius Scottus, the influence of Augustine on ideas about anthropology in the Carolingian era, and the reception of Augustine by twelfth-century mystics.
Below are brief profiles of our research students, who have given permission for their details to be put on the website.
Carmen Angela Cvetkovic
Carmen successfully completed her PhD in 2010 and is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Carmen studied in St. Andrews since September 2005 as a PhD Student in the School of Classics and as a member of the After Augustine Project. She contributed a thesis entitled The Influence of Augustine on Western Mystical Writers from the 12th century, under the supervision of Prof. Karla Pollmann.
Before that she obtained a degree in French and Romanian at the West University of Timisoara in 1998 and in the following year finished her Master of Arts in French Studies at the same university with a dissertation on Francophone Literature. While still an undergraduate student in French and Romanian she started studying Classics at The West University of Timisoara and completed this course in 2000. she continued her studies with a joint Master of Arts in Classics and Theology at the University of Durham. Her dissertation The influence of Clement of Alexandria on the writings of Evagrios Pontikos, was written under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Louth. After 2001 she spent a few years teaching mainly French Language at the French Cultural Centre of Niš, Serbia and French Literature at the University of Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo. Since 2003 she was also a member of the Centre of Church Studies from Niš.
Her research interests lie mostly in Patristics both Greek and Latin, Christian spirituality, and mysticism.
Symke Haverkamp
Symke Haverkamp obtained a Drs. title (equivalent of MA) in Medieval History and a BA in Philosophy at the University of Utrecht (both in 2007). During his studies, he worked for four years as teaching assistant in Medieval History. His MA thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Mayke de Jong and Prof. Dr. Arjo Vanderjagt, dealt with the De substantia nihili et tenebrarum by Fredegisus of Tours (c. 800).
His PhD research examines the influence of Augustine on ninth-century anthropology, focusing on ideas on the soul and its creation in the image of God. His PhD is principally funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The other funding bodies are the Prins Bernhard Cultuur fonds, the Dr. Hendrik Muller's Vaderlandsch Fonds, the Studiefonds Ketel 1 and the Radboud Fonds. His PhD is supervised by Prof. Karla Pollmann, and his interests include ancient philosophy, linguistics in the ninth century, and saber fencing.
Michael C. Sloan
Michael successfully completed his PhD in 2010. He then taught for a year at Baylor University, Texas, and holds now a tenure-track position at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).
Michael Sloan completed his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Classics at Baylor University in 2002, then received an MA in Classics from Texas Tech University in 2004. He studied Latin under Father Reginaldus Foster (the Pope's Latin Secretary) in the Annus Latinus Class of 2003 in Rome. He worked on his PhD in Classics at the University of St. Andrews in the "After Augustine Project" directed by Professor Karla Pollmann and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. His contribution was to provide a first time translation (from Latin to English with an accompanying commentary and notes) of a selection of Sedulius Scottus' commentaries of Pauline Epistles (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians) and show how Scottus' exegesis was influenced by St. Augustine. He can be reached at michaelcsloan@hotmail.com . His other academic interests include Latin poetry of the Augustan age and the Greek tragedian playwrights.