Helena Phillips-Robins

Dr Helena Phillips-Robins is a Teaching Professor in Medieval Italian Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics. She holds a PhD from Cambridge (2017) and is affiliated with Selwyn College. Her research focuses on medieval Italian literature, particularly Dante, with expertise in theology, liturgy, women’s religious history, music, visual cultures, and text-image relations. She supervises PhD student Thomas Godfrey and teaches the course 'Dante and the culture of his age' (IT7).

Her research explores intersections between liturgical practices and literary texts, with a focus on Dante’s Commedia. She examines how medieval religious imagery, music, and manuscript culture shaped devotional and communal experiences. Her publications include Liturgical Song and Practice in Dante’s Commedia (2021) and articles analyzing Dante’s use of visual and aural elements in religious contexts.

Her work bridges literary analysis with interdisciplinary approaches, integrating musicology, art history, and social history. She contributes to Cambridge’s research networks in medieval studies and Dante scholarship, engaging with manuscripts and interdisciplinary methodologies to illuminate medieval cultural practices.