Stephen Cowden lived in Melbourne from 1968-1985, gaining a BA at the University of Melbourne in 1983. He then moved to London. He has a Diploma of Social Work from South Bank University, London (1982) and an MA in Australian Studies at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at the University of London (1992) with a dissertation on Katherine Susannah Pritchard's Coonardoo.
Looking at the process by which a 'white indigenous identity' had been created in Australian literature, Stephen Cowden completed a PhD in Australian literature at the University of Kent in 1999, focusing on Joseph Furphy, Katherine Susannah Pritchard, P. R. Stephensen, D. H. Lawrence and Xavier Herbert.
From 2001 he has taught in the Department of Social Work of the Centre for Social Justice, University of Coventry, U. K.
