Stephanie Alder

Dr. Stephanie Alder serves as an Early Career Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, where she advances scholarship in Victorian literary studies through dual major projects. Her institutional affiliations span the University of Exeter, University of Reading, University of Nottingham, and the Thomas Hardy Society, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to literary history.

Her academic journey includes:

• Doctoral research at University of Exeter and University of Reading on literary censorship and the Victorian novel
• Prior career as secondary school English teacher informing her education-censorship nexus studies
• Ongoing editorial leadership of Thomas Hardy Society journals

Dr. Alder's research synthesizes literary analysis with historical publishing data to expose how moral censorship operated through commercial lending libraries like Mudie's. Her current projects reconstruct Geraldine Jewsbury's editorial influence and map Mudie's global distribution networks, revealing censorship as both national practice and transnational phenomenon. This work critically engages gender studies through recovery of marginalized female authors' roles in shaping Victorian literary culture while examining education's role in perpetuating or challenging censorship norms.