Andy Merrills is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leicester, and for 2024-2025, a Bye Fellow at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge.

Professor Merrills’ teaching and research focuses on the history and archaeology of North Africa, especially in the later Roman and post-Roman period. He has published extensively on the subject, and is the author of several books, including The Vandals (2010) (with Richard Miles), a study of the fascinating barbarian group who ruled the kingdom of Carthage from 439-534 CE; and War, Rebellion and Epic in Byzantine North Africa (CUP 2023), which examines a peculiar epic poem celebrating a forgotten military campaign in southern Tunisia in the middle of the sixth century.   

Originally from Sheffield, Professor Merrills was educated at The Queen’s College, Oxford (BA) and Trinity College, Cambridge (MPhil, PhD). He has also held research positions at King’s College, Cambridge, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Sydney.