Holding up well on the late shift

Name: Joanna Bourke

Age: 41

Job: Professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London - the best job in the world. I get to teach some of the most intellectually committed students in London and write books about whatever topic I choose. This has led to books on Irish women, the working classes, the First and Second World Wars, the Vietnam War, the emotion of fear and the history of rapists.

What is your background? My first degree was in Auckland, New Zealand, and my PhD was from the Australian National University in Canberra. Fourteen years ago (after a research fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge), I was fortunate enough to be given a job at Birkbeck.

What are your working hours? Because we teach in the evenings at Birkbeck (to enable people who work to take our courses), I tend to spend the mornings either in the archives or in my study at home researching and writing. In the afternoons I go to the college to tackle a never-diminishing pile of administrative duties. From 6pm to 8 or 9pm, I teach. The ghastly administration is sandwiched between the delights of research and teaching.

How many students do you teach? Between 50 and 90 each year.

What has been your biggest challenge this year? Writing the script for Eyewitness, a 38-CD set for the BBC on the history of modern Britain. It was a gargantuan task. It won gold for best production of the year at the Spoken Word Awards.

What has been your worst moment in university life? The time my stockings fell down in the middle of a lecture on the Irish famine.

What is your office like? Chaos.

Which university facilities do you use? My office is pretty self-contained: I have my own espresso machine, microwave oven and corkscrew. What more could I want?

Do you socialise with people at the university? The School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck is not only one of the best in the country, it is also the friendliest.

Who are your most difficult customers? Quality Assurance Agency assessors.

What is your best excuse for bad behaviour? There is no excuse.

Do you interact much with other departments? Colleagues and friends in law, English, politics, sociology and history of art provide intellectual and social sustenance.