Skip to main content
Dr Ian Henderson
Dr Ian Henderson

Dr Ian Henderson

Senior Lecturer in Australian Studies

Research interests

  • Literature

Biography

Dr Ian Henderson was born in Canberra and grew up in Melbourne and the North-West Coast of Tasmania. A University of Sydney medallist, he completed his Phd in Australian Literature in 2001 before taking up a lectureship at Griffith University in Brisbane.

He joined King’s in 2004, lecturing in the Department of English, developing Australian Literature modules established by Susan Bradley-Smith and Ann Pender, expanding engagement with Indigenous Australian writing and film-making, and building a postgraduate research cohort.

He became Director of the then Menzies Centre for Australian Studies in 2016, overseeing its 2019 transformation into the Menzies Australia Institute, hosted in the School of Global Affairs, and the development of strategic partnerships between King’s, leading Australian universities and national cultural institutions (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, National Museum of Australia, National Archives of Australia).

He continues to lecture in the Department of English on Australian literature and on Victorian literature and culture, and co/supervises research students enrolled in English, Film Studies and/or History at King’s.

Research

  • Approaching Australian Indigenous Knowledges
  • Australian literature
  • Nineteenth-century British and colonial literature
  • Nineteenth-century science of reading

Ian’s dual focus on nineteenth-century racialised theories of mind (particularly the imagination) and on approaching Australian Indigenous Knowledges have coalesced as a commitment to develop new, ‘decolonised’ forms of research and teaching.

His current project explores what decolonised ‘literary historical studies’ might look like by tracing the impact of working with Indigenous experts in health, education and IT to establish King’s Indigenous.

Further details

See Ian's research profile

    News

    How the Aboriginal approach of yarning could offer an inclusive way of teaching and learning

    Academics and students at the Menzies Australia Institute have been exploring new ways of bringing Indigenous Knowledge and cultural competency into higher...

    Workshop participants

    The Art of Healing now open at King's College London

    A stunning new contemporary art exhibition exploring traditional Indigenous healing practices in Australia.

    Front window of The Art of Healing exhibition, featuring two people looking at a plinth displaying a nest-like artwork by Ilawanti Ken

    King's pays tribute to former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke

    The Menzies Australia Institute, King’s College London pays tribute to former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. A truly great Australian, an international...

    Opening of the Australian Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and The Rt Hon Bob Hawke, 7 June 1983,  National Archives of Australia

    Visitors to 'The Art of Healing' gain new perspectives

    The exhibition enabled greater understanding about Aboriginal art and traditional healing practices in Indigenous Australian communities.

    Two Ngangkari (traditional healers) look at paintings in The Art of Healing: Australian Indigenous Bush Medicine exhibitionibition

      News

      How the Aboriginal approach of yarning could offer an inclusive way of teaching and learning

      Academics and students at the Menzies Australia Institute have been exploring new ways of bringing Indigenous Knowledge and cultural competency into higher...

      Workshop participants

      The Art of Healing now open at King's College London

      A stunning new contemporary art exhibition exploring traditional Indigenous healing practices in Australia.

      Front window of The Art of Healing exhibition, featuring two people looking at a plinth displaying a nest-like artwork by Ilawanti Ken

      King's pays tribute to former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke

      The Menzies Australia Institute, King’s College London pays tribute to former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. A truly great Australian, an international...

      Opening of the Australian Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and The Rt Hon Bob Hawke, 7 June 1983,  National Archives of Australia

      Visitors to 'The Art of Healing' gain new perspectives

      The exhibition enabled greater understanding about Aboriginal art and traditional healing practices in Indigenous Australian communities.

      Two Ngangkari (traditional healers) look at paintings in The Art of Healing: Australian Indigenous Bush Medicine exhibitionibition