Derek Ryan

Dr. Derek Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in Modernist Literature at the University of Kent, affiliated with Rutherford College. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Strathclyde and an MLitt and PhD from the University of Glasgow. His research focuses on modernist literature, animal studies, and critical theory, with notable works such as *Bloomsbury, Beasts and British Modernist Literature* (2022) and *Animal Theory: A Critical Introduction* (2015). Ryan has held roles including Sassoon Fellowship at the Bodleian Libraries (2023-24) and serves on editorial boards for journals like *Woolf Studies Annual* and the *Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism*. He has supervised PhD projects on topics ranging from animal ethics to speculative fiction and has been an external examiner at institutions worldwide. Ryan co-founded the Kent Animal Humanities Network and actively participates in international conferences and lectures.

His professional activities include organizing major events like the 28th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf (2018) and editing volumes for Cambridge, Edinburgh, and other presses. Ryan’s work bridges literary analysis with interdisciplinary theory, exploring themes of ecology, posthumanism, and modernist aesthetics. His recent research on fire ecologies in Woolf’s novels and cross-channel modernisms reflects his commitment to innovative scholarly approaches.