Jessica O'Leary

Dr Jessica O'Leary is a Research Fellow at the Gender and Women's History Research Centre within the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian Catholic University. She specializes in gender and cultural history of the early modern period, with a focus on global encounters, colonization, and intercultural dialogues in the Portuguese Empire and Japan. In 2024, she will hold the Harold S. Williams Fellow in Japanese Studies at the National Library of Australia.

Her research explores women and children in Jesuit missions, cultural transfer through diplomacy, and emotional landscapes of early modern encounters. Current projects include collaborative initiatives on women in the Global Portuguese Empire, child slaveries in the early modern world, and gender dynamics in Japanese Christianity.

Scientific Awards:

• Philippa Maddern ECR Publication Prize (2024)
• Harold S. Williams Fellow in Japanese Studies (2024)
• DAAD Bilateral Exchange Award (2023)
• RSA Kristeller Fellow (2022)
• Maria Sibylla Merian Junior Fellow (2022)
• ACIS Publishing Grant (2021)
• Royal Studies Journal Prize (2018)
• Monash Masters' Prize (2017)
• Cassamarca Scholarship (2016)
• DAAD Award (2016)

Dr O'Leary contributes to public engagement through platforms like The Conversation and Medieval Warfare Magazine. Her recent publications in Renaissance Quarterly and Past & Present examine gendered colonization, missionary practices, and emotional histories, with a monograph on Renaissance masculinities and diplomacy published in 2024.