In 2017 the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick was awarded funding through the Warwick Widening Participation Development Fund and in 2018 from the Warwick Impact Fund (until 2020) for the creation of the Warwick Classics Network (WCN).

Spearheaded by Prof. Michael Scott, the WCN was set up to support and extend the teaching of Classics throughout Coventry, Warwickshire and beyond, and to promote the research of the Classics dept.

From May 2018, a dedicated Research Fellow in Outreach and Impact, Dr Paul Grigsby, was engaged to facilitate the running of the WCN. Dr Grigsby had previously been funded by Classics for All to lay the foundations of this project from February-April 2018.

Outreach and Impact activities form an integral part of the programme of the Department of Classics and Ancient History. Its yearly Ancient Drama Festival attracts over 500 students and teachers from across the UK, and in 2018 the department was awarded the University of Warwick Public Engagement Award for its Outreach activities. Members of staff strongly involved in Outreach and Impact activities include Dr Emmanuela Bakola, Prof. Alison Cooley, Dr Clare Rowan, and especially Prof. Michael Scott (below), whose frequent public lectures and high profile TV appearances make him a central focus of the department’s public face (he won the University’s Outstanding Community Contribution Award in 2016).

The department also has a dedicated team of paid post-graduate and undergraduate Classics Ambassadors to assist in Outreach activities.