Julia Straub studied English and American Literature, French Literature and Philosophy at the University of Constance, and completed her PhD and "Habilitation" at the University of Berne, where she worked as a lecturer in North American Literature. She joined the Department of English at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) as full Professor of Modern English Literature in August 2020. She previously also taught at the Universities of Göttingen, York, Basel, Zürich and Lausanne. Professor Straub's research and teaching cover the field of English Literature from around 1800 to the present day, with special interest in the connections between literature and media history, intermediality, cultural memory studies, canon formation and the forms and functions of melodrama.