Deirdre Heddon

Professor Deirdre Heddon holds the James Arnott Chair in Drama at the University of Glasgow, within the Theatre Studies department of the College of Arts and Humanities. She previously served as Dean of Graduate Studies and founded the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH). Her research focuses on live art, walking aesthetics, and performance-ecology intersections, with key projects including the Walking Library and newLEAF forest studies. Heddon has secured over £12 million in research grants, including AHRC funding for Walking Publics/Walking Arts and the Treescapes initiative.

• Education: PhD in Theatre Studies (University of Glasgow, 1999)

Research interests include autobiographical performance, site-specific art, and ecological responsiveness. Her work bridges theory and practice, exemplified by collaborations like the Walking Library (exploring walking as pedagogy and art) and Three Words for Forest, a verbatim play on environmental decision-making. She has published extensively, including seminal texts like Devising Performance (2005) and edited volumes in the Performing Landscapes series.

Recent articles explore walking’s role in gender dynamics, pandemic creativity, and public wellbeing. Awards include the TaPRA Research Prize for co-editing It’s All Allowed (2018) and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Teaching spans undergraduate to postgraduate levels, covering auto/biography in performance, documentary theatre, and Scottish theatre studies.

Grants include £356k for WalkCreate (AHRC 2021), £1.8M for SGSAH (SFC 2014), and leadership in AHRC Doctoral Training Partnerships. Professional roles include REF2021 panel membership and editorial roles for journals like Research in Drama Education.