Naoko Yamagata studied Classics at International Christian University (BA), Tsukuba University (MA), University College London (MA and PhD) and King’s College London (PGCE).  Before joining the Department of Classical Studies of the OU in 2000, she taught Classics at University College London and University of Wales, Lampeter and also tutored three OU Classical Studies modules as Associate Lecturer.   

Her research interests centre on Homer, including reception of Homer in antiquity, especially in Plato and Virgil, comparison of Homeric and Mycenaean Greek (Linear B) and comparison of Homer and the Tale of the Heike, a Medieval Japanese epic.