Deirdre Coleman is an Associate Investigator at The University of Melbourne. She completed Honours in English at The University of Melbourne before going to the University of Oxford where she graduated with a BPhil (1979) in Victorian literature and a DPhil (1986) on Coleridge's journalism. Since returning to Australia she has taught at the Universities of Wollongong, Adelaide and Sydney. While at The University of Sydney she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research Supervision. In 2007 she returned to The University of Melbourne as the Robert Wallace Chair of English, and served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2010-2013. She is currently completing a biography of the entomologist Henry Smeathman (1742-86) entitled The Flycatcher: Science, Slavery and Empire in the Age of Reason.
Deirdre's research interests include 18th and 19th century literature, science and cultural history; abolitionism, women's writing, travel, colonialism, natural history, racial ideology, the gothic. She is involved in the Emotions and Environment Research Cluster.
Contact
colemand@unimelb.edu.au
Research
The Family Diaries of Katherine Plymley (1758-1829)
