Dr Will Tattersdill BA (Hons.), MSt, PhD

• BA (University of Exeter)
• MSt (Exeter College, Oxford)
• PhD (King’s College London)
  Thesis title: ‘Science, Fiction, and the Monthly Magazines 1891-1905.’

I grew up in Moseley and studied in Exeter, Oxford, and London before returning to Birmingham for a teaching fellowship in 2013. In September 2014 I became a full-time lecturer in the English department, and have been senior lecturer since June 2018. In September 2020 I joined the University's school of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, although I continue to teach and supervise in English Literature as well.

• From Research to Policy I (LANS, Level C)
• The Uses of Genre (English Literature, Level I) - convenor
• Interdisciplinarity I (LANS, Level I)
• Alternative Facts (English Literature, Level H) - convenor
• Evolutions of Popular Fiction (English Literature, Level M)

I am happy to read applications on any selection from or combination of the following subjects, for any period from 1854 to the present day:

Genre Theory
Popular Fiction
Literature and Science
Science Fiction
Alternate History
Literature and Museums
Geology, prehistory, or palaeontology in popular culture
Periodical Studies
Journalism (especially 1850-1910)
Empire (especially 1880-1900)
Book History

In my doctoral research, I examined the connections between literature and science in popular magazines of the fin de siècle. In particular, I focussed on the emerging genre of science fiction, arguing that the co-presence of fact and fiction alongside each other in these general magazines created a publishing environment in which sci-fi could thrive.

My current research looks at these ideas across a wider time period, focussing on how dinosaurs are articulated in popular culture. Dinosaurs are impossible without a great deal of both close scientific study and abstract imaginative work - I’m investigating the way the relationship between literature and science plays out as the social dinosaur moves through time.

I am also interested in book history, periodical studies, museums, imperialism, popular fiction, crime writing, and modernism.

I am LANS's liaison to the College of Arts and Law, and am happy to talk to any student interested in pursuing a Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences degree with an emphasis on the humanities.

I have previously taught on the Access to Birmingham (A2B) programme and at the AEP and HEI summer schools, among other kinds of school and community outreach. I warmly encourage contact from anybody who’d like to talk to me in this capacity.

I am a member of the British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS) and the British Association of Victorian Studies (BAVS). I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.