Dr Rose Harris-Birtill

Rose is a shrewd strategist who combines her negotiating skills with compassionate leadership to keep OLH running effectively and fairly for the benefit of all. She oversees editorial processes across the OLH’s portfolio of open access journals and is Editor-in-Chief of its flagship journal OLHJ, and has two decades of editorial experience in academia and industry. She also has previous experience in journalism, and has been interviewed for BBC radio and television.
Rose holds a PhD in English from the University of St Andrews, where she is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer. Her academic research interests include contemporary literature, culture and theory, global Buddhisms, and the strange borderlands between the sacred and the secular. Rose is also an invited member of Crossref's Membership and Fees Committee, and is the UK National Expert for the European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS).
Rose loves a good writing challenge and the way to her heart is definitely through her punny bone. When she isn’t flying the flag for open access, Rose can be found lecturing on video game narratology, practicing yoga, reading, gaming, and travelling. She has motorbiked across 11 countries in 21 days, once learnt morse code, and has played ping pong with David Mitchell.
Selected publications.
David Mitchell’s Post-Secular World: Buddhism, Belief and the Urgency of Compassion (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)
C21 Literature: Journal of 21st Century Writings 6.3, David Mitchell special edition (Editor, October 2018)
KronoScope: Journal for the Study of Time 19.2, Time and the Arts special edition (2021)
“The Future of the Open Library of Humanities: Milestones, Governance, and Sustainability” (2021)