Wendy Davies

Wendy Elizabeth Davies, OBE, FBA, FSA, FRHistS, is Professor of History and Pro-Provost for European Affairs at University College, London in England.

Davies works across and within the disciplines of history, archaeology and Celtic studies. She has an especial interest in the economic and social structure of Western European pre-industrial rural communities and the ways in which they used land. Much of her work has involved collaboration with others and she strongly believes in the importance of fieldwork, in both teaching and research. Though her teaching originally covered a wide area of European and English medieval history, it has, more recently, concentrated on Celtic subjects. She is particularly well-known for her in-depth studies of early Welsh and Breton history and, for fifteen years, ran, with Dr. Grenville Astill, the 'East Brittany Survey', a multi-disciplinary research programme into settlement and land-use changes. She is also co-director, with Prof. James Graham-Campbell, of the interdisciplinary 'Celtic Inscribed Stones Project', established to build a database of all known early medieval Celtic inscribed stones. She has also convened a major research group, known as the 'Bucknell Group' for the last twenty years, with the aim of examining the social significance of early medieval European charters, and is notable for her own analysis of the Llandaff Charters.

Davies is also responsible for co-ordinating and developing the college's European strategy. She represents the Provost and President, as required, both abroad and at home, and advises him on major European Higher Education trends. She maintains the college's membership of European networks and works with many others to promote the good reputation of UCL. She is particularly concerned that academic qualifications be speedily recognised within Europe.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. [LondonGazette |issue=58729 |date=14 June 2008 |startpage=10 |supp=yes |notarchive=yes]

Publications

* "Early Welsh Microcosm: Studies in the Llandaff Charters" (1978)
* "The Llandaff Charters" (1979)
* "Wales in the Early Middle Ages" (1982)
* "The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe" (edited, with Paul Fouracre, 1986)
* "Small worlds: the Village Community in Early Medieval Brittany" (1988)
* "Patterns of Power in Early Wales" (1990)
* "A Breton Landscape" (with Grenville Astill, 1997)

Footnotes