I’m Dr Amanda McVitty, and I founded Arque Research because I believe historical narratives, told well and with a commitment to authenticity, provide a powerful way for businesses, institutions and cultural organisations to connect with their staff, customers, stakeholders and communities.

I have skills, knowledge and experience gained over a 30-year career spanning journalism, marketing and communications, academic and applied research, and university teaching and postgraduate supervision. I’m a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the Professional Historians’ Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa (PHANZA), and have held governance roles in several international scholarly associations. My expertise includes legal history, urban history, histories of gender and sexuality, and spatial and environmental histories.

I use my extensive academic and professional networks to access a wide range of skills to deliver Arque Research projects. Our virtual team includes heritage and archives experts; gallery and museum professionals; engagement and consultation specialists; and translators, writers and designers. This provides the flexibility to pull together just the right team at the right time for the job.

Credentials

I began my career as a journalist and magazine editor with the global trade publisher IDG Communications. I then spent 20-odd years delivering marketing and communications services in the tech sector, working with companies including Optimation, Solnet (now part of Accenture), Sun Microsystems (now part of of Oracle) and TechTonics Group.

In the mid-2010s, I got the opportunity to pursue my dream of studying medieval history when I was awarded a prestigious doctoral scholarship. I received my PhD in 2016 then taught medieval and early modern history at Massey University from 2017 to 2023. In 2018, I won a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund grant, and worked as the lead researcher (Principal Investigator) and project manager on this grant from 2019 to 2022.

In 2020, I published my first book with the highly regarded UK press Boydell & Brewer. This was based on extensive original research in three languages using medieval legal records, government reports and political narratives. I’ve published widely in international academic journals including Past & Present, Gender & History and the Journal of Medieval History. My work has also featured in popular media including BBC History Extra and the New Zealand Listener. I hold awards from global scholarly associations including the Canadian Society of Medievalists and ANZAMEMS Inc., the peak body for medieval and early modern studies in Australasia.