Professor Kirstie Blair

Professor Kirstie Blair is Deputy Principal (Academic) with responsibility for shaping and overseeing academic policies, resources, strategies, and initiatives. She was previously Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Stirling (2022-2025). 

Kirstie holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge, MPhil and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford, and studied at Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar.

Kirstie joined the University of Stirling in 2022 from the University of Strathclyde, where she was a Chair in English Studies and Head of the School of Humanities. Prior to joining Strathclyde University, she was a Professor in the Division of Literature and Languages at Stirling, and before that she was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Glasgow.  

Her research interests largely lie in the fields of Victorian studies and Scottish studies: she has published extensively on Victorian poetry, literature and religion, literature and medicine, newspaper and periodical history, and working-class history, literature and culture. She also teaches, researches and supervises in the fields of children’s literature and fan studies. Kirstie’s recent work has focused on Scottish and Northern working-class cultures. 

Kirstie is a Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year winner and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. From 2018 to 2023, she led the project ‘Piston, Pen & Press: Literary Cultures in the Industrial Workplace’, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

In 2024 the Prime Minister approved her appointment as a Trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, which provides scholarships for postgraduate British students to study in the USA.

Responsibilities

Reporting directly to the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Blair will have oversight of the effective delivery of the University vision and strategy and will lead and manage the team of Deans, while playing a full and key part in shaping the overall strategic direction of the University.