Organization Man Booker Prize

Merton College, Oxford (fellow)

St Hugh's College, Oxford (fixed-term tutorial fellow | English | 1986)

Open University (lecturer in literature | 1986-1990)

Trinity College, Oxford (Stirling Boyd fellow in English literature | 1990-2003 | vice-principal | 2002-2003)

Liverpool University (professor of English literature | 2003 | head of the School of English | 2004-2007 | pro-vice-chancellor for cultural engagement | 2011)

Lancaster University (The Ruskin advisory board | chair)

Oxford Companion to English Literature (general editor)

British Association for Victorian Studies (president)

The Conversation (editorial board | chair)

Times Literary Supplement (contributor)

London Review of Books (contributor)