Research Interests
Although trained as a Medievalist, Adams has in recent years worked and published in the field of emblem studies, exploiting the unparallelled resources of the Stirling Maxwell Collection in the University Library¹s Special Collections Department. Her approach ranges from bibliography (A Bibliography of French Emblem Books, with Stephen Rawles and Alison Saunders (Vol. 1: Geneva: Droz, 1999; Vol. 2 to appear in 2002)) to critical textual analysis and scholarly edition (Gilles Corrozet, L¹Hecatomgraphie et Les Emblèmes, TLF (Geneva: Droz, 1997), to broader thematic and cultural concerns. Having redated the influential text by the Calvinist Georgette de Montenay, she is currently working on a book on French Protestant Emblem Books which seeks to explore the reception and significance of the emblem books of Montenay (one of the few female emblem writers), of the theologian Theodore de Bèze and of the Humanist Jean Jacques Boissard, comparing versions in French, Latin and other languages.

As Head of the Centre for Emblem Studies, an interdisciplinary research centre bringing together colleagues from many different departments both within and outwith the University, she organises regular research seminars and, with Laurence Grove, edits the series of themed volumes Glasgow Emblem Studies. She is involved in a major collaborative project to digitise many of the more significant emblem books in the Library¹s collection. The Centre, through organising colloquia and conferences, and through Fellowship schemes, has brought scholars to Glasgow from many European countries, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.