Professor Andrew McRae

Andrew McRae is Professor of Renaissance Studies in the Department of English.

He has published widely on early modern English literature and culture. He was the Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded ‘Stuart Successions Project’ and 'The Poly-Olbion Project', and led the development of  Stuarts Online. In 2019 he co-directed Places of Poetry, a community arts project for England and Wales. With Philip Schwyzer, he is currently preparing for publication a scholarly edition, for Oxford University Press, of Poly-Olbion, the 15,000-line poem by Michael Drayton that was published with annotations by John Selden and maps by William Hole. He also continues to work on early modern political literature, the literature of rural England, and the cultural history of migration.  

Professor McRae is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the English Association, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has served nationally as a QAA institutional reviewer, a REF sub-panellist (2021, 2029), and a member of the AHRC Advisory Board. He is a member of the University English national executive, and led the #EnglishCreates program from its inception in 2022 until 2025. At Exeter, he has served as: Associate Dean, Education (2010-13); Head of English (2014-17); and Dean of Postgraduate Research (2017-23). He publishes occasionally in the UK media on higher education policy, and you can find him @mcraeandrew.bsky.social.