Rate My Professor Rachel Yuen-Collingridge

Rachel Yuen-Collingridge is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology in the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University, and an Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Humanities. She completed her PhD in Ancient History at Macquarie University in 2013, with a thesis titled Historical Lexicology and the Origins of Philosophy: Herodotus’ use of philosophein, sophistes and cognates, following a BA (Hons) from the University of Sydney in 2001. Her research specializations encompass papyrus manuscripts from Graeco-Roman Egypt, scribal practices, authenticity and forgery in ancient texts, knowledge creation, management, dissemination, and preservation, religious and cultural systems, and cultural heritage ethics. She integrates interdisciplinary methods from philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, data science, design, and art theory in her work on how communities produce, reproduce, and use texts.

Yuen-Collingridge held Postdoctoral Research Fellowships on ARC-funded projects including 'Forging Antiquity: Authenticity, Forgery and Fake Papyri' (2017-2021), 'Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt', 'Knowledge Transfer and Administrative Professionalism in a Pre-Typographic Society', and studies on magical papyri such as 'Reading Content and Format in the Greek Magical Papyri from Roman Egypt' (2014) and 'Authority and Artefact' (2016). With over twenty years of tertiary teaching experience, she has instructed in ancient history at Macquarie University, UNSW, University of Sydney, and University of New England, delivered guest lectures at ANU, and conducted papyrology workshops. She was awarded the Faculty of Arts Teaching Excellence Award in 2023. Key publications include "Forgery as decolonisation: Constantine Simonides in Liverpool" (2025), "Between representation and the real: the forgeries of Constantine Simonides" (2023), "Peribiophoty" (2023, co-authored), "GEMF 60 (=PGM XIII): a study of material, scribal, and compositional issues" (2022, co-authored with Richard Gordon), and "Observing the scribe at work" (2021, co-editor). She co-convened the 'Markers of Authenticity' interdisciplinary seminar series, developed ethics documents for cultural heritage projects, ran public lectures and workshops, and serves as a founding member of the Society for Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies and member of the Association Internationale de Papyrologues.