Isobel Armstrong has been one of the most powerful, dynamic and inspirational figures in literary and cultural studies over the last three decades. In 1989 Birkbeck recruited her from Southampton for the then Department of English at Birkbeck. She oversaw a period of unprecedented renewal and expansion for the Department of English.

Since the time she joined, English has doubled in size according to every measure. Her impact was felt far beyond the Department of English. She established a Master’s course in Gender, Society and Culture, the first cross-faculty Master’s course in the College. In 1995, she also began an important initiative to develop the recruitment and support of international students in the College.

Her book Victorian Poetry appeared in 1993 and immediately established itself as the one completely indispensable book on the field. She published an anthology entitled Nineteenth-Century Women Poets, coedited with Joseph Bristow, which changed the face of nineteenth-century literary studies, making available the work of dozens of fine, fascinating female poets that had previously been forgotten and inaccessible to students.