Now “contentedly retired”, Rick Rylance was until 2020 Dean of the School of Advanced Study (the only nationally funded hub for the humanities in the UK) and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of London. Previously, he was Director of the Institute for English Studies in London, CEO of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and Executive Chair of Research Councils UK (RCUK)
During his distinguished career, he held senior positions at the Universities of Exeter and Anglia Ruskin as well as national and international roles including Board membership of the Global Research Council.
Rick currently holds a number of voluntary roles including chairing a grant-awarding jury for the Austrian research council.
New chair Rick Rylance, Director Eve Patten and outgoing chair Bill Emmott
A scholar of English literature, his interdisciplinary interests include the history of psychology and the neuro-science of reading. He is working at present on the Oxford English Literary History for the mid twentieth-century period, and is the author of several other books including Literature and the Public Good: The Literary Agenda and Victorian Psychology and British Culture 1850-1880.
Commenting on his appointment as chair of the Institute board, Professor Rylance said:
“I’m very much looking forward to working more closely with colleagues in the Trinity Long Room Hub. I’ve had a connection with the Hub for a number of years now. I wholeheartedly support its mission, and admire its many achievements which we can build on over the next period. It’ll also give me great personal pleasure to come regularly to Dublin, a truly favourite city.”
Professor Rylance takes over from Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, who served as chair of the institute board from 2019-2024.
Professor Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, welcomed the new chair:
“Professor Rylance brings a wealth of experience from his long and distinguished career in the Arts and Humanities in the UK and across the research landscape at international level. We will greatly value his insights and knowledge as we continue to support Trinity’s Arts and Humanities and the Hub’s next stage of development.”