Thomas Warton Professorship of English Literature

The Faculty of English and St Catherine’s College are seeking applications for the Thomas Warton Professorship of English Literature, available from 1 October 2027. The Warton Professor will maintain and enhance the University’s global reputation in the study of literature in English during the ‘long’ eighteenth century, providing academic leadership for the 18th century and Romantic research clusters in the Faculty and strengthening interdisciplinary links within and beyond Oxford.

The English faculty has a distinguished and robust history of research and teaching in eighteenth-century studies, including a thriving Masters degree programme. In the spirit of the conversational sociability of our period, our work is characterised by collaboration with other scholars especially through the Centre for Early Modern Studies, the Centre for Material Text and Textual Editing and the Oxford Life-Writing Centre. We work closely with members of other Faculties, especially History, Modern Languages and Classics, and interdisciplinary research groups such as the Voltaire Foundation. Our research is enriched by the eighteenth-century holdings of the Bodleian library and the Ashmolean museum, with whom we collaborate in research and teaching, as well as by its connections with the wider heritage sector in the region.

We are seeking a scholar of the highest international standing with an outstanding record of research and publication and the academic stature and intellectual drive decisively to shape the study of literature in English of the long eighteenth century at Oxford for the next generation. Preference may be given to candidates with expertise in one or more of the following areas: global literature; race and empire; gender and sexuality; book history, textual criticism and editing; literature and heritage; digital humanities.

You should be able to enthuse and inspire students at both undergraduate and graduate level through classes, lectures and supervisions. You will have the capability and readiness to take on a central role in the Faculty’s graduate teaching in the period; the capacity and willingness to advise and mentor early career researchers and other colleagues; and an ability to attract funding and manage funded projects. You will also have a proven ability and readiness to undertake senior leadership duties and to play a role in the formation of academic strategy: you will be expected not only to assume senior roles in the administration of the Faculty but also to represent the Faculty in the University and the academic community at large.

The closing date for applications is 12:00 noon UK time on Monday 9 November 2026. Interviews are expected to be held on 14 and 15 January 2027. Informal enquiries are welcome and may be made in strict confidence to Professor Simon Horobin, Faculty Board Chair (chair@ell.ox.ac.uk).

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