Provost of St Leonard's College / Dean of Graduate Studies
Professor Dina Iordanova
Professor Dina Iordanova trained in Philosophy and German, and worked internationally in Canada and the USA before taking up a position in the UK in 1998. Appointed as St Andrews' first Chair in Film Studies in 2004, she launched a portfolio of Film Studies programmes and led the start of that Department's dramatic climb up the research league tables to the best score achieved by a department in Scotland in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. She is the founder of the Centre for Film Studies and the publishing house St Andrews Film Studies.
After chairing the Film Studies department and serving as a Director of Research for the top performing School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies, the University asked her to serve as a Provost of the ancient St Leonard's College, with responsibility for postgraduate students. She took this position in 2010.
Professor Iordanova is a leading international specialist in transnational cinema. She has published widely on international film and cultural industries. She pioneered research in international film festivals and the dynamics of global film circulation. She is active on the international speakers circuit, has been a distinguished visiting professor at Universities in the USA and across Europe and Asia, and is a recipient of multiple Rockefeller, AHRC, Leverhulme and Carnegie Trust awards. Her work has been translated into twenty languages and has been adopted for teaching around the world.
Engaged with initiatives in the areas of publishing, postgraduate education, and global creative industries, she is member of various international academic networks, a peer reviewer for funding bodies, consultant to cultural organisations, external examiner, and assessor for a range of international institutions and journals.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a member of the Institute of Directors. She also serves as a Trustee of the Board of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Professor Iordanova is the first female (and foreign-born) academic appointed to the role of Provost of St Leonard's College / Dean of Graduate Studies at the University over its 600 year-long history.