Dr Lauren Mackay
Academic & Creative Development Manager
Lauren is the Academic & Creative Development Manager at Academy Travel. With a background that spans both music and history, she holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Sydney, a Master of History from the University of New England, and a PhD in History from the University of Newcastle. This unique combination of disciplines underpins her work across Academy Travel’s programs and platforms. Lauren plays a central role in maintaining and developing our itineraries, collaborating with leading academics and cultural experts to ensure the scholarly integrity and quality of our content. She also manages Academy Travel’s online lecture series, working closely with presenters to deliver engaging and accessible talks, and hosts our podcast, The Thinking Traveller, which connects audiences with the insights of our expert tour leaders.
A passionate traveller, Lauren spent nearly a decade living in the UK and Europe, experiences that continue to inform her work in digital engagement, content creation, personalised itineraries, and academic collaborations.
Lauren is also the author of four books:
Inside the Tudor Court: Henry VIII and his Wives through the Eyes of the Spanish Ambassador; Among the Wolves of Court: The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn; The Wolf Hall Companion, and Thunder Through the Realms: Five Kingdoms and the shaping of Early Modern Europe- though she admits to constantly wrestling with the historian’s dilemma: finishing one book before beginning research on the next.