Hadley earned a PhD and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the School of History at the University of Birmingham. She was a temporary lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Leeds. In 1996, Hadley was hired by the University of Sheffield as a lecturer in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology. From 2009 to 2018, Hadley was a Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University. She served as Faculty Director of Post-Graduate Studies from 2009 to 2013. She was promoted to Head of Department of Medieval Archaeology in 2014. She also was Acting Vice-President for Arts and Humanities at the University from 2017 to 2018. Hadley joined the Department of Archaeology and Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York in 2018. She has written several publications on Anglo-Saxon culture and society and Viking-Age archaeology and history. Her primary research focus is the study of childhood, gender, migration, and funerary rituals. Hadley is Director of White RoseCollege of Arts and Humanities, Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, and York.
Current research
Hadley's most recent research projects include The Rothwell Charnell Chapel Project, the Sheffield Castle project and Tents to Towns: the Viking Great Army and its Legacy project. Hadley, Dr Jennifer Crangle and Dr Elizabeth Craig-Atkins, co-founded the ‘'Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project'’, which focuses on the 13th centurycharnel chapel at Holy Trinity Church, in Rothwell, Northamptonshire. The below-ground chapel house contains one of two remaining medieval ossuaries in England. Tents to Towns, a four year extension of an earlier research project conducted by Hadley and Dr. Julian Richards from 2011-2018, on the 9th century Viking winter camp at Torksey, Lincolnshire, will continue under the leadership of Richards and Hadley. The new project will focus on the legacy of the Viking army in the area, its interaction with the local community, the development of Anglo-Saxon fortified settlements, and the changing nature of commerce during the Anglo-Saxon period at Torksey. Hadley is co-authoring a new book with Dr. John Moreland on Sheffield Castle, which was destroyed during the English Civil War. The book is based on the research project led by Moreland, Hadley and Dr Gareth Dean on previous excavations of the castle site.
Media
From 1998 to 2010, Hadley appeared on five episodes of Britain's long-running archaeology TV series, Time Team. She also appeared as herself in the TV Movie Documentary, Saxon Hoard: A Golden Discovery in 2012.
