SOAS University of London

Members

Chair

Dr Peter Flügel

J Clifford Wright
Honorary President, Centre of Jaina Studies
Staff Silhouette

Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit, University of London; Vedic religion, Classical Sanskrit literature, Middle Indian languages and cultures.

Peter Flügel
Chair, Centre for Jaina Studies
Peter Flügel

Jaina Studies; South Asian History & Culture; Anthropology & Sociology of Religion

  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4776
  • Email: pf8@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 341
  • Office Hours: Mondays 3-4pm
Crispin Branfoot
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Crispin Branfoot
Architecture, sculpture and painting in South Asia, especially in southern India; pilgrimage and sacred geography; material religion; colonialism and material culture.
Rachel Dwyer
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Rachel Dwyer
Hindi Cinema; Indian popular culture; Indian film; Hinduism; new middle classes; Mumbai/Bombay; Gujarati language and literature; Gujarati diaspora esp UK and East Africa; comparative Indian literature.
  • Tel: 020 7898 4294
  • Email: rd3@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 457
  • Office Hours: Please e-mail for an appointment
  • On Sabbatical:On Research Leave, Term 2 (2016-17)
Erica Hunter
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Erica Hunter

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: 333
  • Office Hours: By Email Appointment
Werner Menski
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Werner Menski
Classical and modern Hindu law; Muslim Law; Laws of South Asia; Family law; Comparative law; South Asians in the UK; Immigration law; Ethnic minorities
Francesca Orsini
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Francesca Orsini
Hindi Literature; North Indian literary cultures; Hindi; Urdu.
  • Tel: + 44(0)20 7898 4242
  • Email: fo@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 419
  • Office Hours: Mondays 1-3pm
Ulrich Pagel
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Ulrich Pagel

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: Mondays 4-5.30pm
Peter D. Sharrock
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Peter Sharrock
He is now focusing on the evidence in Indochina for the influence of tantric or esoteric Buddhism, developed in the great monasteries of the Ganges valley and diffused and developed in different ways through much of Asia.
  • Tel: 020 7898 4462
  • Email: ps56@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: B406
  • Office Hours: Wednesdays 3pm-4pm
Gurharpal Singh
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Gurharpal Singh

Professor Gurharpal Singh is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Professor in Inter-Religious Relation and Development in the Department of Study of Religions.

  • Tel: +44(0) 20 7898 4108
  • Email: gs41@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 319
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 3-4pm
Renate Söhnen-Thieme
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Renate Sohnen Thieme
Sanskrit language and literature; classical Indian religions; folklore and music of Baltistan
Vincent Tournier
Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Vincent Tournier

Buddhism in Ancient and Early Medieval South Asia

  • Tel: 020 7898 4753
  • Email: vt6@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 343
  • Office Hours: Mondays 1-3pm or by email appointment

Associate Members

Shalini Sinha
Associate Member, Centre of Jaina Studies
Shalini Sinha

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.