David Williams

David Williams is a Professor at the University of Waterloo and St Jerome’s University, holding degrees from Harvard (BA), St Andrews (MPhil), and Oxford (DPhil). His research spans contemporary poetry, etymology, lexicography, and digital humanities. He is currently leading the SSHRC-funded project "Opening the Oxford English Dictionary" (2022-2027), focusing on data curation and historical analysis of the OED.

• Specializes in 20th-21st century British/Irish literature
• Author of Defending Poetry (2010) and The Life of Words (2020)
• Advances computational approaches to poetic and lexicographic analysis

His publications analyze intersections between poetry and lexicography, with a focus on poets like Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, and Joseph Brodsky. The OED's citation practices, poetic neologisms, and digital humanities methodologies recur in his work. Scientific awards include the SSHRC Insight Grant (2022-2027), Ontario Early Researcher Award (2015-2020), and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2007-2010).