Department Structure
Head of Department
Dr Cosimo Zene
Deputy Head of Department
Undergraduate Tutor
BA Admissions Tutor
MA Convenor, MA Dissertations Coordinator
Dr Lucia Dolce (Term 1)
Dr Antonello Palumbo (Terms 2 & 3)
MA Admissions Tutor
Dr Lucia Dolce (Term 1)
Dr Antonello Palumbo (Terms 2 & 3)
Research Tutor
Research Admissions Tutor
Teaching Assistant Co-ordinator
Undergraduate Exam Chair
Postgraduate Exam Chair
Undergraduate Exam Deputy Chair
Postgraduate Exam Deputy Chair
IT Rep
ISP Co-ordinator
Departmental Research Centre Chairs:
Centre for Buddhist Studies: Dr Cosimo Zene
Centre for Gender and Religions Research: Dr Sian Hawthorne
Centre for Eastern and Orthodox Christianity: Dr Erica Hunter
Centre for Jaina Studies: Dr Peter Flügel
Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions: Dr Lucia Dolce
Lucia Dolce
Senior Lecturer in Japanese Religion and Japanese
Japanese religious history, especially the medieval period; Japanese Tantric Buddhism and the esotericisation of religious practice; Millenarian writings and prophecy; Kami-Buddhas associations - Tel: 020 7898 4217
- Email: ld16@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 342
- Office Hours: Term 1 - Wednesdays 3-4pm
- On Sabbatical:Term 2 - Research Leave
Peter Flügel
Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religions
Jaina Studies; South Asian History & Culture; Anthropology & Sociology of Religion
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4776
- Email: pf8@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 593
- Office Hours: All Year - Fridays 3-5pm (during term time)
Jan-Peter Hartung
Senior Lecturer in the Study of Islam
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4383
- Email: Jh74@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 333
- Office Hours: Wednesdays 12:30-2:30pm
Sian Hawthorne
Lecturer in Critical Theory and the Study of Religions
Narrativity; Cultural Memory; Religion and Gender; Feminist Historiography; Postcolonial theory; Postsecularism and gender; Intellectual history in the study of religions.
- Tel: 020 7898 4215
- Email: sh79@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 337
- Office Hours: Tuesdays 10am-12pm (during term time)
Catherine Hezser
Professor of Jewish Studies
- Tel: 020 7898 4633
- Email: ch12@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 335
- Office Hours: Wednesdays 10-11am
Almut Hintze
Zartoshty Professor of Zoroastrianism
Dr Hintze takes an interest in all aspects of Zoroastrianism, the religion of pre-Islamic Iran.
- Tel: 020 7898 4598
- Email: ah69@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 334
- Office Hours: Tuesdays 12-1pm (and by Appointment)
Erica Hunter
Lecturer in Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity; Syriac Christianity in the Middle East, with particular reference to Iraq; Syriac Christianity in medieval Central Asia and China
- Tel: 020 7898 4663
- Email: eh9@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 339
- Office Hours: By Email Appointment
Ulrich Pagel
Reader, Languages and Religions of Tibet and Central Asia
History of Buddhism in Tibet, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Kanjur Studies, Vinaya, Religions of Central Asia, Tibetan, Sanskrit.
- Tel: 020 7898 4782
- Email: up1@soas.ac.uk
- Room: Room 338
- Office Hours: Term 2 - Mondays 3-5pm
Antonello Palumbo
Lecturer in Chinese Religions
Ideological history of pre-modern China; Chinese religions, notably Taoism and Buddhism; history of the Buddhist canon in China; Manichaeism and Iranian influences in medieval China; Chinese cultural relations with Central Asia
- Tel: 020 7898 4768
- Email: ap47@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 345
- Office Hours: Term 2 - Wednesdays 2-4pm
Theodore Proferes
Senior Lecturer in Ancient Indian Religions
- Tel: 020 7898 4637
- Email: tp17@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 378
- Office Hours: Term 2 - Thursdays 3-5pm
Sarah Stewart
Lecturer in Zoroastrianism
Lecturer in Zoroastrianism, with particular reference to the living tradition in Iran and India. Convenor: Islam in Britain.
- Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4270
- Email: ss7@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 331
- Office Hours: Thursdays 12-1pm
Cosimo Zene
Reader in the Study of Religions
Anthropology of religion, theory in the study of religions, continental philosophy, Gramsci and religion, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, minorities (Dalits), mysticism and heresy, non-Western Christianities, Mediterranean anthropology; South-Asia (India, Bangladesh), Sardinia.
- Tel: 020 7898 4783
- Email: zc@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 340
- Office Hours: Tuesdays 2.30-4pm / Thursdays 3.30-5pm
Teaching Fellows
Christopher Daily
Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Chinese Religions
- Tel: 020 7898 4215
- Email: cd8@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 341
Mark Faulkner
Senior Teaching Fellow
Religions of Africa
- Email: mf34@soas.ac.uk
- Office Hours: By Email Appointment
Tullio Lobetti
Senior Teaching Fellow
Philosophy, particularly Philosophy of Religion; Theology; Japanese Religions.
- Tel: 020 7898 4764
- Email: tl3@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 343
- Office Hours: By Appointment
Mikael Oez
Lecturer in Eastern Christianity
- Email: mo14@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 339
- Office Hours: Fridays 5-7pm
Shalini Sinha
Senior Teaching Fellow
Shalini Sinha specializes in Indian philosophies and religions, with a particular interest in Hindu, Jaina and Buddhist theories of self, Jaina mysticism, and Vaiśeṣika ethics and metaphysics.
- Email: ss143@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 593
- Office Hours: All Year, Mon 3-4pm, Tue 4-6pm, or by appointment
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Visiting Professors
Nicholas Sims-Williams
Research Professor of Iranian and Central Asian Studies
Iranian and Central Asian philology; Christian and Manichaean texts from Central Asia. - Email: ns5@soas.ac.uk
Tadeusz Skorupski
Reader in Buddhist Studies
Buddhist Studies; philosophical and religious doctrines; literature; iconography Buddhist iconography; Buddhist rituals; Buddhist doctrines; Buddhist history - Tel: 020 7898 4775
- Email: ts1@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 337
T H Barrett
Research Professor of East Asian History
History of Chinese religion, notably Taoism and Buddhism; pre-modern Chinese history, especially the Tang period - Tel: 020 7898 4765
- Email: tb2@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 451a
Research Associates
D Seyfort Ruegg
Professorial Research Associate
The philosophy of the buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha) and the philosophy of the middle way
François de Blois
Research Associate
François de Blois has published extensively on Iranian and Semitic languages and literatures, as well as on the social and religious history of the Near East and Central Asia in pre-modern times. His books include "Persian literature, a bio-bibliographical survey. Volume V: Poetry of the pre-Mongol period", second, revised edition, 2004.
- Tel: 020 7898 4764
- Email: fb2@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 343
Emeritus Staff
Paul Gifford
Emeritus Professor
Christianity; recent developments in African Christianity; the socio-political role of religion in Africa Socio-political role of Christianity in Africa; Africa's new charismatic churches - Tel: 020 7898 4764
- Email: pg@soas.ac.uk
- Room: 343
