Michael Whitby

L. Michael Whitby ( b. 1952 ) is a British historian of late antiquity. His specialty is the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the history of science. He is currently Vice- Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.

Life and career

Whitby received a humanistic education at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He then worked for three years as a civil servant of the Scottish Office. Then he returned to Oxford, for graduate studies in Byzantine history.

Whitby received a post- doctoral position at Merton College, Oxford University. In 1987 he joined the department of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews. He became in 1993 Head of the Department and received in 1995 a professor of Ancient History.

Whitby is also a Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. The Department of Classical Antiquity and Ancient History, he joined in 1996. As Vice - Chancellor for Teaching, Learning and Quality, he worked since 2003, and thereafter for Academic Planning and Resources.

On 1 September 2010, Whitby Vice - Chancellor and Head of College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham.

2007 Whitby was awarded the Doctor of Letters ( DLitt ) from the University of Warwick. 2009 he received an honorary Book Prize of the Society for Military History for his work, The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.