Ahmed’s rise to prominence accelerated after she left her position as director of the Centre for Feminist Research at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2016, over what she said was the art school’s failure to address institutional sexual harassment of students by staff (Goldsmiths has denied the accusation). Unshackled, Ahmed has become one of the most important voices in feminist and queer-activist discourse, especially when it involves exposing hypocrisy within supposedly liberal, progressive institutions. This year, publication of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook offered a practical guide to rocking the boat, which includes ‘being willing to confront institutional problems… and to challenge how [institutions] use our efforts to change them as evidence they have changed’. She has been supporting the book with a lecture tour of university campuses in the US and elsewhere. Her messages, such as ‘I like to call diversity practitioners institutional plumbers’ – offering temporary fixes that are in turn claimed and trumpeted loudly by management – have resonated in the staffrooms of museums and galleries internationally.