Natalia Rulyova

Dr Natalia (Natasha) Rulyova is an Associate Professor in Russian within the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has held academic positions since 2002, including roles at the University of Surrey and the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES). Her research focuses on Russophone literature, translation studies, post-Soviet media culture, and genre studies, with a recent emphasis on collaborative self-translation and decolonial approaches in contemporary literature. She has launched a series of author interviews with notable figures like Guzel Yakhina and Hamid Ismailov through Pushkin House.

Education:

• PhD in European Literature (University of Cambridge, Trinity College)
• MPhil in European Literature (University of Cambridge)
• BA in Modern Languages (Perm State University, Russia)

Research Interests: Dr Rulyova’s work bridges literary and media studies, examining self-translation practices in Joseph Brodsky’s bilingual poetry and analyzing minoritized voices in post-Soviet Russophone literature. Her projects often involve interdisciplinary collaboration, such as the AHRC-funded Genre Studies Network (2012) and media research initiatives with BBC and CEELBAS grants.

Teaching: She leads Russian language modules and specializes in advanced literary analysis courses covering 19th-century Russian novelists like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. She also teaches cross-disciplinary modules on European film and migration narratives.

Awards & Grants: Recipient of a 2009 teaching award, multiple CEELBAS grants (totaling £50k+), and an AHRC Research Networking Grant (£31k). Her monograph Joseph Brodsky and Collaborative Self-Translation (2020) has been praised for redefining translation studies methodologies.

Supervision: Successfully supervised 5 PhD students focusing on topics ranging from ISIS discourse analysis to Russian soft power. Current advisees include research on African feminist authors in Russian translation.

Public Engagement: Regular contributor to BBC media analyses and The Conversation, with a UoB podcast appearance. Active in public seminars and interdisciplinary workshops linking academia with practitioners.