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Professor of English and National Teaching Fellow, Birmingham City University

David holds degrees from the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, completing his DPhil in 1987 under the supervision of the great Shakespeare scholar Emrys Jones. He worked at both universities before emigrating to Japan, where he taught at the Universities of Kyoto and Osaka.

He served as Head of English at Birmingham City University for ten years before becoming Dean of the Arts, Design and Media faculty. He gained a National Teaching Fellowship in 2013 and as a Fellow of the English Association, David welcomes all opportunities to teach and undertake external examining.

He has been published five times with Oxford University Press and twice with Cambridge, as well as textbooks for Taylor and Francis. His work has appeared in leading journals including Shakespeare Quarterly, New Theatre Quarterly, The Review of English Studies, and The Times Literary Supplement. Recent articles include a study of ethics and theatrical biography, and a philosophical critique of work on games and teaching in the humanities.

Since 2008 David has written programme essays for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, most recently for the 2016 production of Chabrier’s L’Etoile. He has recently written a piece for the Bristol Old Vic to celebrate their opening night in May 1766.

David Roberts is one of the University’s dedicated team of trained media champions, and can comment on a range of subjects including:

Theatre
The Arts
Literature
Opera

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of English and National Teaching Fellow, Birmingham City University