Susan Rudy

Susan Rudy is a Visiting Scholar at Saïd Business School and a Senior Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. A former Professor of English at the University of Calgary, Canada, and Head of the English Department (2003-2008), she served as Executive Director of The Rhodes Project, a research centre and registered charity that collects data on women Rhodes Scholars, from 2012-2016. Since 2012, Susan has also held senior research fellowships at the Gender Institute, London School of Economics and the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. In Canada, she served as President of the Canadian Association of Heads of English (2007-2008), Chair of the Canadian Literature Discussion Group of the Modern Languages Association (2007-2008), and President of the Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures (1994-96). Susan is the author, or editor, of four books and dozens of articles on issues raised in contemporary poetry including the social construction of identity and sexuality, the constitutive power of words, and the experience of impermanence in contemporary urban life. With Saïd’s Kate Blackmon, she co-authored several scholarly papers and executive briefings based on data collected by the Rhodes Project. Most recently, she has published blogs at The New Statesman on what gender and gender equality mean in the twenty-first century. Susan's research interests span the humanities and social sciences and range from contemporary women's innovative writing to gender and diversity in organisations. Trained as a poststructuralist, feminist theorist, and literary critic, while at the Rhodes Project she conducted qualitative research on the lives and careers of women who have held Rhodes Scholarships and developed an exceptional global network of connections with high-achieving women.