[4] Bodi taught German and history at the Melbourne Grammar School for two years (1957–58) and then was a lecturer at the University College, Newcastle, New South Wales.
[4] He actively and rapidly recruited new young staff, many of whom, including the linguist Michael Clyne[1] and the Germanist David Roberts, went on to complete "doctorates under his supervision".
He emphasised that German culture and studied were "pluricentric" and so he taught not only Germany but also Austria whose literature and language he viewed as "autonomous".
[1] He also promoted the study of the literature and culture of the German Democratic Republic and more generally of "emerging European writers and movements".
[4] Bodi's own academic research included pioneering work on German-Australian connections, including on the naturalist and ethnologist Georg Forster, who went on James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific, and on the Enlightenment in Austria, writing a book Tauwetter in Wien (Thaw in Vienna) which has become a standard work.