Alison Beach

Alison Beach is a Professor of Medieval History at the School of History, University of St Andrews, UK. She serves as Director of Impact and actively engages in interdisciplinary research combining history with archaeological and scientific analysis.

• Specializes in medieval monasticism and religious women
• Conducts collaborative research with pharmacologists and archaeologists
• Director of two major research projects on premodern women's roles

Her research integrates historical analysis with bioarchaeological methods, particularly examining medieval women's contributions through dental calculus studies and manuscript production. Recent work explores liturgical practices and monastic conflicts in Germany during the High Middle Ages.

Current projects include 'Word of Mouth: Embodied Stories of Premodern Women at Work' funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2024-2029), and 'From Text to Teeth' funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2021-2023). Her collaborations span multiple disciplines including pharmacology and archaeology.

She supervises postgraduate research students working on topics related to medieval Christianity, monastic archaeology, and religious women's communities.