Professor David McInnis is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama in the English and Theatre Studies program within the School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne. He earned his PhD from the University of Melbourne, where his doctoral research focused on vicarious travel and the early modern English stage. His academic career at the University of Melbourne has included appointments as Gerry Higgins Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies, Associate Professor, and his current professorial role. McInnis's research centers on Shakespeare and early modern drama, with a particular emphasis on lost plays from Shakespeare's England, theatre history, and voyage drama. He is co-founder and co-editor of the Lost Plays Database, alongside Roslyn L. Knutson and Matthew Steggle, a comprehensive online resource hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library that documents non-extant plays from the period.

McInnis has authored key monographs including Shakespeare and Lost Plays: Reimagining Drama in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Mind-Travelling and Voyage Drama in Early Modern England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). His editorial contributions encompass the critical edition of Thomas Dekker's Old Fortunatus for the Revels Plays series (Manchester University Press, 2020), as well as co-edited collections such as Lost Plays in Shakespeare’s England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, with Matthew Steggle), Travel and Drama in Early Modern England: The Journeying Play (Cambridge University Press, 2018, with Claire Jowitt), Tamburlaine: A Critical Reader (Bloomsbury Arden, 2020), and Loss and the Literary Culture of Shakespeare’s Time (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, with Roslyn L. Knutson and Matthew Steggle). For his excellence and impact in humanities scholarship, particularly in early modern and Shakespearean literature, drama, and theatre culture, he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2023. McInnis contributes to public discourse through cultural partnerships with the Bell Shakespeare Company, including the inauguration of a Shakespeare PhD scholarship, and publishes accessible articles in Pursuit by the University of Melbourne and The Conversation on topics ranging from Shakespeare's puns and misquoted lines to contemporary adaptations like the Pop-Up Globe.

Professional Email: mcinnisd@unimelb.edu.au