KIAS DIRECTOR

Dr. Michael O’Driscoll is a Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies. He teaches and publishes in the fields of critical and cultural theories and his interest in material culture studies has focused on poetry and poetics, archive theory, book history, writing technologies, petrocultures and most recently the study of sound, listening and literary audiotexts. 

O’Driscoll has held multiple portfolios as a leader in the Faculty of Arts, including Associate Dean Graduate Studies, Associate Dean Research and Vice-Dean. He was the Convenor of a fully online Congress 2021 and served for ten years as Editor of ESC: English Studies in Canada. He is currently a Governing Board Member of the SpokenWeb SSHRC Partnership Group and an Affiliated Researcher of the Sound Studies Institute.

Mike, as his friends and colleagues know him, is passionate about collaborative research, facilitative leadership, community engagement and the mentorship of early-career scholars. He’s been heard to say, repeatedly, “I like building things with other people,” and sees his contributions to research, teaching, administration and service as integrated, intellectual pursuits dedicated to the advancement of the vital missions of post-secondary education in the twenty-first century.