Professor Stefan Collini FBA
Professor Stefan Collini will be awarded a Doctor of Literature (DLitt) on Thursday 2 July 2026 during the morning ceremony.
Professor Stefan Collini is a distinguished scholar of intellectual history and literary culture in modern Britain.
Professor Collini is Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at the University of Cambridge, where he previously held appointments as Lecturer, Reader and Professor. He also taught at the University of Sussex as Lecturer and Reader in Intellectual History.
His work focuses on the literary and intellectual history of Britain since 1850, with particular attention to cultural criticism, public intellectuals and the role of literary culture in public debate. He has written extensively on the history and purpose of universities and is a prominent critic of contemporary higher education policy in the United Kingdom.
Professor Collini is the author of several influential works, including Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain, What Are Universities For?, Public Moralists, English Pasts and Common Writing.
He is a Fellow of the British Academy and contributes regularly to public debate through essays and reviews in the London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, The Nation and The Guardian.