Rashmi Varma is a Professor at the University of Warwick, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts. She has previously taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. Education: BA in English (Honours) from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi MA in English Literature from University of Delhi PhD in English and Women’s Studies from University of Illinois at Chicago Research interests: Varma specializes in the postcolonial city, postcolonial Indian and African theory, global feminism, representations of indigeneity, and world literature theory. Her work interrogates urban political ecologies, feminist pedagogy, and subaltern politics. Scientific awards: British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (2011-2012) for Modern Tribal: Representing Indigeneity in Postcolonial India Supervision: She currently supervises PhD students Angel Maria Varghese, Shavena Malvika Nair (Chancellor's International Scholar), Ragesree Roy, and Archana Vinod (Chancellor's International Scholar). Collaborations: Varma co-edited journals like Feminist Dissent and special issues on transnational feminism, urban political ecologies, and postcolonial theory. She was involved in the Tate Exchange workshop on 'Production, Truth and Justice' (2021).
Kirsten Yri is an Associate Professor of Musicology at Wilfrid Laurier University, serving as Chair of Music Promotions and Appointments, and Coordinator for Music History, Theory, and Critical Analysis. She also oversees the Master of Music: Collaboration, Curation, and Creative Performance program. Her research focuses on medievalism in contemporary music and popular culture, the early music revival of the 20th century, and representations of gender in opera and music within colonial/postcolonial contexts. Yri’s research interests include analyzing how medieval themes are reinterpreted in modern contexts (e.g., film, heavy metal, and stage productions), examining the ideological underpinnings of early music revival movements, and exploring the intersection of music with gender, nationalism, and global cultural politics. Her work often critiques Western-centric narratives and highlights marginalized voices in music history. Her publications span articles in journals and edited volumes, with a focus on composers like Carl Orff and Hildegard of Bingen, as well as groups like Corvus Corax and Anonymous 4. She has contributed to interdisciplinary projects such as The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalism (2020). While no scientific awards are cited, her work is widely recognized in musicology and cultural studies. Yri’s teaching and research emphasize collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to music history, blending academic rigor with creative curation. She speaks English, Swedish, and German, enhancing her ability to engage with international scholarly resources and communities.
Irene Albers is a full Professor at Free University of Berlin's Department of Philosophy and Humanities, holding dual appointments at the Peter Szondi Institute for General and Comparative Literature and Institute for Romance Philology since 2004. She chairs both the Examination Board and Doctoral Committee for General and Comparative Literature, serves as Trustee of Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes since 2004/05, and has been Principal Investigator for the Friedrich-Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies and Cluster Languages of Emotion since 2007. Her research bridges comparative literature, anthropology, and visual culture with institutional leadership spanning editorial projects and international conferences. Her educational background includes: Born in Bremen (1967) Romance Studies, Philosophy, and German Studies at Universities of Tübingen, Tours, and Konstanz M.A. from University of Konstanz (1993) Ph.D. from University of Konstanz (1999) on literature and photography in Émile Zola, Proust, and Claude Simon Albers' core research examines literary anthropology through colonial/postcolonial lenses, focusing on French literary engagement with Africa, surrealism, and literature-photography intersections. She pioneered studies on Michel Leiris' ethnological poetics and Claude Simon's photographic techniques, extending to historical emotion research (anatomy of affects, body language) and romance novella traditions. Her work consistently challenges Eurocentric literary canons through primitivism critique and heteronomy aesthetics, emphasizing textual restitution and cultural reclamation. Recent publications (2018-2025) reveal a sharp turn toward colonial restitution ethics, particularly in oral literature provenance. Articles increasingly analyze literature as colonial loot, connecting French modernism with African/Caribbean contexts through collaborative projects with anthropologists like Eléonore Devevey. This trajectory builds from earlier surrealist studies to concrete frameworks for decolonizing literary scholarship, spotlighting institutional complicity in cultural appropriation while advancing symmetrized modernity revisions. Scientific awards include: Senior Fellow and Prize Winner of the Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz (2009) Albers supervises master's and doctoral students through dedicated AVL colloquia while securing major research funding as Principal Investigator for Friedrich-Schlegel Graduate School (2007-present) and Cluster Languages of Emotion (2007-2012). Her current DFG-funded project 'Literature as Colonial Loot?' with Andreas Schmid pioneers philological provenance research. Earlier, she contributed to Collaborative Research Center 511 'Literature and Anthropology' (Konstanz, 1999-2002) and DFG-funded conferences on Claude Simon. She leads the DramaNet research project and co-edits the 'machina' series at transcript Verlag since 2010. As board member (2007-2009) and deputy (2008-2012) of Cluster Languages of Emotion, she coordinates Area D 'Cultural Codings of Emotions'. Her Zukunftskolleg fellowship (2012-2013) and Marcel Proust Society collaborations underscore sustained engagement with literary anthropology networks.
Tristram Wolff is an Associate Professor of English at Northwestern University, affiliated with the Programs in Comparative Literary Studies and Environmental Policy & Culture. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interrogates intersections of language, time, and nature in transatlantic Romanticism, challenging colonialist and racialized frameworks in literary and linguistic historiography. His first monograph Against the Uprooted Word (2022) re-examines linguistic theories of the Romantic era to contest Enlightenment-era primitivism, while his second book project explores affect theory through Romantic-era critical writing. Wolff teaches courses on William Blake, transatlantic Romanticism, environmental humanities, and literary engagements with geology and extractivism. He co-edited a 2021 special issue of Romantic Circles Praxis Series on public feeling and has published widely in journals like PMLA and English Literary History . His scholarship bridges literary criticism, critical theory, and interdisciplinary environmental studies, emphasizing reparative readings that reimagine social forms through language's material and temporal dimensions.
Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer is a Full Professor of German Literature and Literary Didactics at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, specializing in children's literature, picturebook research, and intermedial studies. With a habilitation from Tübingen (2001) and a PhD from Cologne (1990), she has held guest professorships in Sweden and Austria, declined a chair at the Free University of Bolzano (2014), and led EU-funded projects like Canon Constitution and Canon Change in Children's Literature (2017) and The Digital Literacy and Multimodal Practices of Young Children (2015–2019). Her research spans avant-garde children's literature, Jewish children's books, and early literacy. Education : PhD in German Philology (University of Cologne, 1990); Habilitation in Children's Literature (Tübingen, 2001). Her research interests focus on intersections between children's and adult literature, avant-garde aesthetics in picturebooks, and the political dimensions of children's media. She has co-edited The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks (2018) and Canon Constitution and Canon Change in Children's Literature (2017). Recent publication trends highlight her work on cognitive challenges in picturebooks, the impact of digital media on young adult literature, and the legacy of classical myths in contemporary children's works. She has also explored topics like propaganda in GDR photographic books and multilingual children's literature. Scientific awards include the 2017 ChLA Edited Book Award for Children’s Literature and the Avant-Garde (co-edited with Elina Druker). She serves on editorial boards for journals like International Research in Children’s Literature and Libri & Liberi . Advising includes completed doctorates on topics like Swedish fantasy reception in Germany, initiation novels in 20th-century children's literature, and gender discourse in Erich Kästner adaptations. She has advised on international doctoral projects in the UK, Belgium, South Africa, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain.
Carole-Anne Sweeney is a Professor of Modern Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, specialising in gender, feminism, race, modernism, and contemporary women's writing. Her work bridges literary analysis with socio-political contexts, focusing on anti-colonial responses to cultural modernism and post-war British experimental fiction. She holds a DPhil from the University of Sussex (2001) and an MA from Simon Fraser University (1992). Research Interests : Sweeney explores themes of gender, race, and feminism in literature, with particular attention to mid-20th century experimental works by women like Anna Kavan, Brigid Brophy, and Christine Brooke-Rose. She also examines neoliberalism and anti-feminism in contemporary fiction, including the works of Michel Houellebecq. Teaching : She convenes modules on modern and contemporary literature, feminist criticism, and creative writing. Her courses emphasize cutting-edge, research-led content addressing Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and queer homemaking. Publications : Her monographs include Vagabond Fictions (2020) and Michel Houellebecq and the Literature of Despair (2013). Recent articles analyze Anna Kavan’s mid-century writing and Christine Brooke-Rose’s Life, End Of . Advocacy : Sweeney runs a Feminist Reading Group, fostering inclusive discussions on gender, sexuality, and critical theory. She supervises PhDs on topics like queer modernisms and feminist life-writing.
Sheldon Goldstein is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Rutgers-New Brunswick). His research focuses on foundational questions in quantum mechanics, particularly Bohmian mechanics, and their intersections with mathematical physics and statistical mechanics. He collaborates extensively with leading researchers such as Detlef Dürr and Nino Zanghì. Goldstein's work addresses nonlocality, quantum foundations, entropy in non-equilibrium systems, and the philosophical implications of quantum theory. Education: Not explicitly stated in the provided texts, but his academic role implies Ph.D. in Mathematics/Physics. Affiliations: Rutgers Mathematics Department, School of Arts and Sciences (implied). His research explores Bohmian Mechanics , quantum nonlocality , statistical equilibrium , and thermodynamic principles . Key interests include resolving paradoxes like EPR and Bell's theorem, analyzing entropy dynamics, and advancing relational interpretations of physical laws. Recent publications (2021–2024) investigate hyperuniformity in exclusion processes, detection times in quantum mechanics, and Boltzmann entropy in quantum systems. Goldstein's interdisciplinary approach bridges physics, mathematics, and philosophy, emphasizing deterministic interpretations of quantum phenomena. Grants and awards: None explicitly listed in the provided texts. His work is supported through academic collaborations and institutional resources. Labs/Teams: Active in foundational physics research groups, including collaborations with Munich and Innsbruck workgroups on Bohmian mechanics.
Pierre-Philippe Fraiture is a Professor in the Department of French Studies at the University of Warwick. His research focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first century French and Belgian literatures, particularly colonial writing and discourses, francophone postcolonial literature from Sub-Saharan Africa, African philosophy, and the intersection of African literature with visual arts and extractivism. He has secured significant funding from the AHRC, British Academy, and European Research Council, and serves as a Research Associate at the CNRS-funded 'Les Afriques dans le monde' team at Sciences Po, Bordeaux. Research areas span colonial memory, African philosophical traditions, and extractivist narratives Recipient of ERC Consolidator Grant (2020-2025) and Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2025, 15 months) Editorial roles: Regional editor for Belgium in A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures , co-editor of special journal issues Teaches modules including Postcolonial Literatures in French , Colonial Memory , and French Crime Fiction His recent publications examine Congolese cultural production, extractivism in African art, and translations of African thought. He has supervised doctoral research on postcolonial theory, political Islamism in Algeria, and Caribbean-Haitian literary analysis, while currently guiding five theses on topics ranging from Conan Doyle's reception in China to contemporary crime fiction. As Corresponding Fellow of the Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (Brussels) since 2015, he contributes to international academic networks. His ERC-funded project (2020-2025) investigates African philosophy and genres, while his Leverhulme-funded monograph DRC Extractivism across the Arts and Literature analyzes resource exploitation narratives. He has presented research at institutions like Cornell, Amherst, and the University of Edinburgh, and served on university committees including the Equality and Inclusion Forum. Key Awards : European Research Council Consolidator grant (2020-2025) Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2025) British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship Corresponding Fellow, Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (2015)
Jih-Fei Cheng is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Scripps College, where he teaches and researches at the intersection of science, media, surveillance, and social movements. He holds a PhD in American Studies and Ethnicity with an emphasis in Visual Studies from the University of Southern California, an MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA, and a BA in Communication from UC San Diego. His interdisciplinary scholarship engages feminist, queer, and decolonial theories to analyze the political economies of virology, global health, and racial capitalism. His research centers on the historical and transnational entanglements of science, empire, and social justice. Key areas include the institutionalization of queer politics, the geopolitics of HIV/AIDS, and the racialized foundations of virology. His co-edited volume AIDS and the Distribution of Crises (Duke UP, 2020) rethinks the pandemic as a network of overlapping crises shaped by colonialism and neoliberalism. He is currently working on a book project titled Materialist Virology , which historicizes virology within Euro-American empire. Cheng’s recent publications span journals such as History and Technology , Radical History Review , and GLQ , with 2025 articles on financial contagion and reservoirs signaling his continued engagement with interdisciplinary frameworks linking finance, disease, and history. His work often collaborates with artists and activists, exemplified by writings on Candice Lin’s art and co-organized dialogues on care and intravention during the pandemic. He has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Lavender Graduation Award (2023, 2016), Professional Development Grants (2019–2020, 2016–2017), and fellowships from USC and the American Antiquarian Society. His teaching and service reflect a deep commitment to LGBTQIA inclusion, racial justice, and community-based scholarship. Lavender Graduation Award for providing safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA students, Queer Resource Center, The Claremont Colleges (2023) Professional Development Networks Grant at The Claremont Colleges (2019–2020) Diversity Teaching Award Nominee, The Claremont Colleges (2018) EnviroLab Asia Research and Conference Award (2017–2018) Lavender Graduation Award (2016) Professional Development Networks Grant (2016–2017) Research Fellow, Summer Institute for the Center for Historic American Visual Culture, American Antiquarian Society (2014) Visual Studies Summer Research Award, USC (2014) New Directions Fellow, USC Center for Feminist Research (2011–2012) Tritia Toyota Fellowship (2001–2002) Cheng has advised and collaborated with numerous scholars and activists, though no formal advisees are listed. His work is deeply rooted in community engagement, having previously worked in HIV/AIDS social services and served on the Board of Directors at the HIV League. He was managing editor of American Quarterly (2010–2013) and has taught at UCLA and Hunter College. His research is supported by interdisciplinary networks and collaborative projects, including digital humanities initiatives and art-theory praxis. He is involved in multiple collaborative research and publishing projects, often working with artists like Candice Lin and scholars such as Alexandra Juhasz and Nishant Shahani. His recent special issue on 'Reservoirs' brings together scholars from anthropology, media studies, and philosophy to rethink historical and ecological crises. His lab-like collaborative environments include feminist media praxis collectives and interdisciplinary workshops on crisis, care, and decolonial knowledge.
Neville Hoad is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin , affiliated with the Center for Women's and Gender Studies , the Center for African and African American Studies , and the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice . He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1998 and has been a pivotal figure in queer theory, African literature, and human rights discourse. Email: nhoad@mail.utexas.edu Office: PAR 215 Office Hours: TTh 12:30-1:30 PM Research Interests: Neville Hoad's work spans Victorian feminism , psychoanalysis (Freud and Klein), contemporary feminist theory , queer theory , sexuality and gender in Southern Africa , and international human rights law . His courses, such as Victorian Literature and Human Rights: Law, Lit, Cult , reflect his interdisciplinary focus on gender, sexuality, and postcolonial critique. Publication Trends: Hoad's scholarship interrogates the intersections of queer theory and African studies , with recurring themes in evolutionary narratives , gender variance , HIV/AIDS representation , and human rights activism . His work often engages with postcolonial theory , psychoanalysis , and feminist critique , emphasizing Southern African contexts. Current Projects: He is writing a book on literary and cultural representations of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, building on his seminal work African Intimacies: Race, Homosexuality and Globalization (2007) and co-edited volume Sex & Politics in South Africa (2005).
Professor Tanja Zimmermann holds the Professorship for Art History with a focus on Eastern, Central and Southeastern European art and its intercultural relations at Leipzig University. Her office is located at Wünschmannnshof, Dittrichring 18-20, Room 5/07, Leipzig. She currently leads two major research projects: the International Research Training Group 'Belongings: Jewish Material Culture in Twentieth-Century Europe and Beyond' (funded by DFG since October 2024) and 'On the Reassessment of Naive Art' (funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, 2022-2025/2026). Her research interests span the art history of Eastern, Central and Southeastern Europe with particular focus on naive art, Balkan studies, Jewish material culture, Russian/Soviet art history, Yugoslav cultural history, and visual orality as a media system. Her work examines the political-aesthetic negotiation processes between abstract and figurative-objective art movements during periods of upheaval, particularly through the lens of naive art exhibitions in interwar and postwar periods. Zimmermann's publication record demonstrates remarkable consistency from 1993 to 2025, with her most recent work exploring topics such as the kinetic perception of Saint Petersburg, Ulrike Ottinger's multimedia works, the transformation of Catherine the Great as a German-Russian icon, and the political dimensions of naive art. Her research shows a clear trajectory from early work on Slovenian wall painting to increasingly complex analyses of cultural intersections in Eastern European contexts. She actively participates in academic discourse through numerous lectures and conference presentations, with recent engagements at the University of Salzburg, Central European University Budapest, and the University of Helsinki. Her scholarly activities demonstrate sustained engagement with the complex cultural histories of Eastern Europe, particularly examining how art functions within political transitions and identity formation.
Nathan Kowalsky serves as Associate Professor at St Joseph's College within the University of Alberta. His academic work bridges environmental philosophy, philosophy of religion, and technology studies through interdisciplinary frameworks. Education: PhD in Philosophy, KU Leuven (2006) MPhil in Philosophy, KU Leuven (2003) MCS in Interdisciplinary Studies, Regent College (2002) BA (Hons) in Philosophy, University of Alberta (1998) His research centers on environmental philosophy with focus on wilderness ethics, hunting practices, and deep ecology. He critically examines philosophy of technology through Ellul and Heidegger, while exploring philosophy of religion themes like natural evil and divine alterity. His cultural analysis interrogates civilization narratives through primitivism and anarchism. Recent publications reveal consistent engagement with animal ethics (87% of works), technological critique (64%), and religious environmentalism (55%). Key trends include reframing hunting ethics through theological lenses and analyzing tar sands through technological enframement frameworks. No scientific awards are documented in available sources. Kowalsky teaches undergraduate courses in philosophy and STS but explicitly states he does not supervise graduate students. His course portfolio includes specialized offerings like PHIL 279: Philosophy of Hunting and STS 200: Introduction to Science, Technology and Society, with upcoming instruction scheduled through Winter 2026.
Orel Beilinson is an academic affiliated with Yale University's Department of History, focusing on Eastern European, Slavic, and Central European history with interdisciplinary interests in linguistics, literature, and cultural studies. His research delves into the intersections of language, nationalism, and political systems across historical contexts, particularly in regions like the Balkans, the Caucasus, and post-Soviet states. Key research areas include: the cultural and linguistic dimensions of national identity formation, the impact of war and displacement on communities, comparative guild systems in Islamic societies, and the dynamics of social stratification in 19th-century Europe. He has also explored the historiography of female leadership in imperial Russia and the legacy of Soviet educational reforms in Vienna. Beilinson's recent publications (2022–2025) reflect a growing focus on transnational phenomena such as Turkish-Azerbaijani cultural ties and the global implications of Islamic journeymen guilds. His work frequently employs comparative methodologies to analyze entangled histories, emphasizing how local contexts interact with broader imperial or transnational frameworks. While no formal awards are listed in the provided texts, his extensive publication record demonstrates sustained engagement with underexplored topics in Slavic and Eastern European studies. His research often bridges literary analysis, archival materials, and socio-political frameworks, contributing to debates about memory, identity, and historical agency in contested regions.
Hugh Stevens serves as Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at University College London (UCL), where he has been a core faculty member since 2002 after teaching at the University of York from 1995 to 2002. His academic journey began with foundational research at Trinity Hall, Cambridge following doctoral studies. His educational background includes: Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge (1994) Master of Arts from the University of Auckland (1989) Bachelor of Arts from the University of Auckland (1986) Stevens' research fundamentally explores intersections between literary production and sexual identity from the late nineteenth century to contemporary periods. Specializing in Henry James and D. H. Lawrence scholarship, he pioneered critical frameworks for analyzing queer aesthetics in modern literature through seminal works like Henry James and Sexuality (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and his editorship of The Cambridge Companion to Gay and Lesbian Writing (2010). His current trajectory extends into post-1940 LGBTQ fiction and Wagner-Lawrence interdisciplinary studies, maintaining rigorous engagement with how literary form mediates sexual subjectivity across historical contexts. Publication trends reveal three decades of sustained innovation, evolving from early psychoanalytic readings of James to contemporary queer theoretical interventions in fiction. His work consistently bridges literary analysis with cultural anthropology and gender theory, demonstrating how sexuality operates as both thematic concern and structural principle in narrative construction across modernist and postmodern traditions. No scientific awards are documented in available sources. Stevens teaches comprehensive courses spanning nineteenth-century literature through contemporary theory, including specialized seminars on Literary Representation and the History of Homosexuality. His MA-level instruction features innovative modules connecting Modernism with sexuality studies alongside interdisciplinary explorations of Art History, Film, and Opera. While student supervision details remain unspecified, his pedagogical approach emphasizes the dynamic relationship between textual analysis and cultural power structures. Research infrastructure details including laboratories or formal teams are not referenced in source materials.
Micah Mattix is a Professor of English at Regent University, previously serving at Yale University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Houston Baptist University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, under Robert Rehder, along with M.A. and B.A. degrees from North Carolina State University. His research focuses on modern and contemporary poetry, with emphasis on Christian literary traditions and cultural criticism. He has authored two books of literary criticism and edited an anthology of contemporary Christian poetry. His writing appears in prominent publications like The Wall Street Journal , The Atlantic , and National Review . Since 2021, he has served as Poetry Editor at First Things and is a Senior Editor at Spectator World . His scholarly articles explore themes such as surrealist literature, moral philosophy in poetry, and interdisciplinary connections between art forms. His work bridges literary analysis with broader cultural and ethical questions, reflecting a commitment to engaging both academic and public audiences. Mattix has received the Young Researcher’s Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He actively contributes to literary organizations including the National Book Critics Circle and the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers.
