Stafford read classics at New Hall, University of Cambridge (1987–90) and began her PhD at University College London in 1991.^[1] Following appointments at Royal Holloway, Birkbeck, the University of Leicester, and the University of Wales, Lampeter, Stafford moved to the University of Leeds in 2000 and became a Senior Lecturer in 2005.

Stafford was appointed Professor of Greek Culture in 2020, becoming the first female professor of Classics at the University of Leeds.^[2]

Stafford's work focuses on Greek cultural history and she specialises in myth, allegory, personification, religion, and the reception of Greek culture.^[3] She has worked extensively on the myth and reception of Hercules, including numerous publications through research at the University of Leeds, much of which, like Herculean Labours: enriching the public understanding of our classical mythological heritage (2005-2012) has a public engagement dimension.^[4]

Building on previous work on Hercules, Stafford now leads the AHRC funded Hercules: a Hero for all Ages project, which aims to chart the significance of the reception of Hercules from the late antique period to modern times.^[5][6] As part of her work, Stafford has spoken widely on the subject including public lectures at Leeds City Museum.^[7]

The Hercules Project has extensive public outreach activities, including a new musical drama, Herakles, composed by Tim Benjamin which premiered in Todmorden Town Hall in April 2017.^{[8][9][10][11]} Stafford also coordinated The Labours of Herakles touring exhibition, displayed at Leeds City Museum and the Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge, featuring the work of Marian Maguire.^[12][13]

• ed. with Alastair Blanshard, The Modern Hercules: Images of the Hero from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 21, Brill, 2020)
• ed. with Valerie Mainz, The Exemplary Hercules: from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and Beyond (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 20, Brill, 2020)^[14]
• ed. with Arlene Allan and Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides E, Herakles Inside and Outside the Church From the First Apologists to the End of the Quattrocento (Metaforms: Studies in the Reception of Classical Antiquity 18, Brill, 2020)
• Herakles, Gods and Heroes in the Ancient World (Routledge, 2012)^[15][16]
• ed. with Herrin JE, Personification in the Greek World: from Antiquity to Byzantium, Centre for Hellenic Studies King's College London Publications 7 (Ashgate, 2005)
• Ancient Greece: life, myth and art (Duncan Baird, 2004)
• Worshipping Virtues: personification and the divine in ancient Greece (Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth, 2000)^[17]

• Lecture on The Afterlife of a Hero for the New Classical Research Day, 21 October 2011.
• Thematic collecting interview about an ancient Greek vase in Manchester Museum's collection depicting Herakles and the centaurs.