Diane Watt

Professor Diane Watt is a leading scholar in medieval literature, women's writing, and gender/sexuality studies at the University of Surrey. As Professor of English Literature and Associate Head of School (Research and Innovation), she co-directs the Sex, Gender, and Sexualities Research Centre (SGS). Her work focuses on early medieval women’s literary culture, queer theory, and the intersection of religion and gender. She has co-edited groundbreaking volumes such as Women and Medieval Literary Culture (2023), which won a prestigious 2024 award, and authored works like God's Own Gentlewoman (2024), a biography of Margaret Paston.

Her research has been supported by the AHRC, British Academy, and Leverhulme Trust. Notable achievements include her role as Editor-in-Chief of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women's Writing and collaborative projects merging digital humanities with traditional scholarship. She supervises doctoral students, including Teresa Pilgrim (2024), and teaches modules on medieval literature and queer theory.

Awards highlight her contributions to recovering marginalized voices in medieval texts. Her publications span monographs, edited collections, and articles in journals like Exemplaria and Philological Quarterly. She actively engages with public media, as seen in her 2024 ABC interview discussing medieval women's agency.