Philip Butterss

Philip Butterss

School of Humanities

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics


After completing a PhD in Australian literature at the University of Sydney, Phil Butterss worked for twenty-six years at the University of Adelaide. He retired in 2017, and is now a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of English and Creative Writing. His book on the life and work of C.J. Dennis won the National Biography Award for 2015. He is writing a history of literary Adelaide from 1829 to the present.

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2017 - ongoing Visiting Research Fellow University of Adelaide
    1998 - 2017 Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide
    1991 - 1997 Lecturer University of Adelaide
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2015 Award National Biography Award - Australia $25,000
    2014 Award Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision University of Adelaide - $10,000
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    1985 - 1990 University of Sydney Australia PhD
    1982 - 1985 University of Sydney Australia MA (Honours)
    1980 - 1982 University of Sydney Australia BA (Honours)
  • Research Interests

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor The Necrophile Self: Contemporary Attitudes Towards Death and Its New Visibility Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Tamara Tatjana Waraschinski
    2014 - 2017 Co-Supervisor Volume 1 On the Edge Volume 2 Exegesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Martin Eddy Knight
    2013 - 2019 Co-Supervisor What These Ithacas Mean: The Nostos Motif in Sea Fiction Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Ursula Horlock
    2013 - 2014 Co-Supervisor The Utopian in a Faithless World/ Landfall Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Reginald John Taylor
    2013 - 2014 Co-Supervisor Nick Mount Blow by blow - Reconfiguring biography: A genre in motion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Denise Kaye George
    2013 - 2016 Co-Supervisor One Sunday in Picardy/ The Olfactory Shift in the Literature of the First World War: The Reawakening of Smell Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Eleanor Ahern
    2013 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Representations of Belonging in Asian Australian Writing Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Wan Nur Madiha Ramlan
    2013 - 2016 Principal Supervisor The Life and Work of George Isaacs Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Anne Elizabeth Black
    2011 - 2012 Co-Supervisor The House of Poppy Larkin The Divided Self and the Social Environment Barbara Hanrahans Autobiographical Novels and the House of Poppy Larkin Master of Arts Master Part Time Mr Robert Ian Horne
    2011 - 2014 Principal Supervisor Ephemeron: Volume 1 Creative works Volume 2 Exegesis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Emma Carmody
    2010 - 2013 Principal Supervisor Creative work: Tunnelling. Exegesis: Blue-Collar Work. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Dennis John McIntosh
    2009 - 2011 Co-Supervisor Looking in a Broken Mirror: Reflections on the Split Writer and the Visual Artist Character Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Katherine Doube
    2008 - 2009 Principal Supervisor 'Disquiet' Novella and Screenplay: Adaptation and Creative Hybridity Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Julia Leigh
    2008 - 2009 Principal Supervisor ''No Storied Windows, Richly Dight': Locating the Gothic in Four Australian Novels' and 'Twigs from a Hedge in Winter: An Australian Gothic Novel' Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Henry Ashley-Brown
    2007 - 2012 Co-Supervisor Walking Wounded: Cinematic Representations of Masculine, Post-Modern Anxiety in the Urban Space Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Penelope Eate
    2006 - 2011 Principal Supervisor Postclassical Hollywood/Postmodern Subjectivity - Representation in Some 'Indie/Alternative' Indiewood Films Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Jessica Murrell
    2003 - 2009 Co-Supervisor Frontier Mythology in the American Teen Film Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Rowena Harper
    2000 - 2004 Principal Supervisor 'Gods in our own World': Representations of Troubled and Troubling Masculinities in Some Australian Films, 1991-2001 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Shane Crilly
    1998 - 2002 Principal Supervisor BLOKES AND CARS: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINITIES IN AUSTRALIAN FILM Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Rebecca Johinke

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