Academic teaching and research

As Professor and Vice Principal (Research and Knowledge Exchange) at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, Maria Delgado oversees the institution’s research culture. She is a member of the School’s Executive Leadership Group and academic leadership team, and also contributes to graduate teaching. She held an honorary fellowship at the University of London’s Institute for Modern Languages Research, now the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the School of Advanced Study between 2016 and 2020. She is listed in Who’s Who and holds honorary Life Membership of Drama HE (formerly the Standing Committee of University Drama Departments, SCUDD) and the Theatre and Performance Research Association [TaPRA]. Her awards include the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Excellence in Editing Award (2013), the Premi Joan Centrós for best publication on Catalan-language culture (2008) and the TaPRA Research Prize for Editing (2017). She is a Commander of the Order of Queen Isabel la Católica (2003) and has the Cross of the Order of King Alfonso X the Wise (2017) both awarded by the Spanish Government for services to education and culture. In 2018, she was awarded the Premi Fundació Ramon Llull for the Promotion of Catalan Culture and in 2024 she was elected an Académica Correspondiente of the Royal Institute of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

In her previous positions at Queen Mary University of London, Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Hull she taught courses on dramaturgy, directing, translation, performance and film analysis, and arts journalism.  She has supervised doctorates in the area of Cuban theatre, Spanish theatre and film, film festivals, Argentine theatre and film, rehearsal methodologies, Catalan performance, social theatre, translation for the stage, arts criticism, cultural policy and branding in Barcelona, and directors’ theatre. She has given over 70 guest lectures at a range of universities and cultural institutions within the UK, USA, Europe, Asia and South America and held fellowships, visiting professorships and residencies at the University of Queensland, Virginia, Stockholm, Navarre, The City University of New York and UC-Davis (among others).

She is a member of the Leverhulme Trust’s Advisory Panel and the UK Committee on Research Integrity. Between 2018 and 2020 she was a member of Research England’s Council. Her extensive experience of research management and leadership includes membership of a range of AHRC committees and panels, including its BGP2 Expressions of Interest and Moderating Panels (2012-13) and its Strategic Reviewers’ Group (2011-13, 2017-), as well as overseas consultancy work and assessment (e.g. European Science Foundation and Portuguese Scientific Foundation). She was a member of HEFCE’s Strategic Advisory Committee for Research and Knowledge Exchange (2015-18), the Forum for Responsible Metrics’ REF Environment Working Group (2017-18), a member of the panel for Drama, Dance and the Performing Arts for the Research Assessment Framework [RAE 2008] and chaired the panel for Music, Drama, Dance and the Performing Arts for the Research Excellence Framework’s REF 2014. She was also Chair of Subpanel 33, Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies and Deputy Chair of Main Panel D for REF 2021. She is a member of the Board of Governors of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a member of the Research England Advisory Group for the School of Advanced Study University of London.

In 2018 she was selected as one of the University of London’s 150 Leading Women as part of its celebration of the anniversary of the admission of women to the University.