Lili Owen Rowlands

Lili Owen Rowlands is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London, in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Her research focuses on feminist theory, sexuality studies, and French studies, with a particular emphasis on autotheory, queer theory, and trans studies. She is currently leading a Leverhulme-funded project on contemporary accounts of sex work in France, exploring intersections of literature, film, and digital media.

Dr Rowlands holds a PhD in French from the University of Cambridge (2022). She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules on French literature, film studies, and feminist theory. She co-founded Royal Holloway’s Forum for Contemporary Theory and has contributed to public-facing publications like the London Review of Books and New Yorker.

Her research includes projects on Paul B. Preciado, trans theory, and the sociocultural dimensions of erotic labor. She has published widely in journals such as Paragraph, edited volumes, and special issues, and is preparing her doctoral thesis on French autotheory for publication.

Awardees include the Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (2021). She actively engages in peer review for journals like Modern and Contemporary France and organizes academic events, including public lectures and workshops.