Research Centres and Networks

Research Centres

The Department of Religions and Philosophies hosts or is affiliated with several important research centres. Each centre runs a programme of events, hosts visiting scholars and long-term research projects, and publishes research in its respective area.

• Centre for Jewish Studies
• Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions
• Centre of Buddhist Studies
• Centre of Jaina Studies
• Centre of World Christianity

Lecture and Seminar Series

The department and its centres are also home to a number of lecture and seminar series, which function as important fora for discussing and disseminating our latest research and for welcoming internationally renowned scholars.

• Annual Jaina Lectures
• The Buddhist Forum
• CSJR Seminar Series
• Department of the Study of Religions Research Seminar
• Idea of Iran Annual Symposium
• Jaina Studies Workshop
• Dastur Dr Sohrab Hormasji Kutar Memorial Lecture in Zoroastrianism
• Louis H. Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion
• Numata Visiting Lectureship in Buddhist Studies

Research Networks

Our academic staff is actively involved in administering or leading numerous international disciplinary or interdisciplinary research societies, associations or networks. The following list reflects only those entities which have a permanent outlook and in which a member of our staff has an administrative or leading role.

• British Association for South Asian Studies (Gurharpal Singh)
• Buddhism & Social Justice (Vincent Tournier)
• Circle of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies (Ulrich Pagel, Convenor)
• “History of Concepts-Initiative”, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi (Jan-Peter Hartung)
• École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris (Vincent Tournier, chargé de conference)
• European Consortium for Asian Field Study (Lucia Dolce, SOAS representative since 2007)
• European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (Jörg Haustein)
• Interdisciplinary Innovations in the Study of Religion & Gender (Sian Hawthorne)
• International Association of Buddhist Studies, Lausanne (Ulrich Pagel, General Secretary)
• International Association of Manichaean Studies (Erica Hunter, Secretary, 2009-2013)
• Nihon bukkyô sôgô kenkyû gakkai (Association for the Interdisciplinary Study of Japanese Buddhism, Lucia Dolce, council member since 2004)
• Research Network for Dynamic and Dialogical Approaches to Historical Logic (DDAHL, Peter Flügel)
• Societas Iranologica Europaea (Almut Hintze, President)
• Slavery, Resistance and Freedom (SBL Program Unit, Catherine Hezser, with Bernadette Brooten)