SOAS University of London

Department of Religions & Philosophies, School of History, Religions & Philosophies

PhD Students

Monika Hirmer
Monika Hirmer

Becoming the Goddess: Study of a Contemporary South Indian Tantric Tradition and its Implications for Concepts of Personhood, Gender Relations and Everyday Life

Keith Jarrett
Staff Silhouette

[working title] Led By the Spirit: Navigating the fragments of ‘Oneness’ Pentecostalism in London’s migrant Caribbean congregations

More information on the department’s PhD programme.

Recently Awarded PhDs

2017
  • Shamaila Sarwar An Analysis of the Life, Works and Practices of Abu Anees Muhammad Barkat Ali (d.1997) and the study of Sufism (Dr P Hartung)
  • George W. Warner Imagining Hujja: Proof and Representation in the works of Al-Shaykh Al-Saduq (Dr P Hartung)
  • Serena Biondo Transmission in the Mind Series: Origins and History of the Mind Series Manuals on Meditation (Dr U Pagel)
  • Alexandra E. L. Buhler The Significance of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906-1911) for Zoroastrians in India and Iran (Dr S Stewart)
  • Janine M. Nicol Daoxuan (c.596-667) and the Creation of a Buddhist Sacred Geography of China: An examination of the Shijia fangzhi (Dr A Palumbo)
  • Samani P. Pragya Preksa Meditation History and Methods (Dr P Flugel)
  • Nazneen R. Engineer Issues of Conversion and Intermarriage in Zoroastrianism: A Nineteenth Century Gujarati Text Perspective in Mumbai, India (Dr S Stewart)
2016
  • Richard Godwin Persian Christians at the Chinese Court: The Xi'an Stele and the Church of the East, 410-845 (Dr E Hunter)
  • Hussam Al-Mallak Thus Spake Ibn al-'Arabi: The Death of God and the Overcoming of Nihilism, an Islamic Perspective (Dr C Zene)
  • Farah Mihlar The Pursuit of Piety and the Quest for Separatism: The Politicisation of Islam in Sri Lanka (Dr P Hartung)
  • Longdu Shi Buddhism and the State in Medieval China: Case Studies of Three Persecutions of Buddhism, 444-846 (Dr A Palumbo)
2015
  • Adam Benkato The Manichaean-Sogdian Parable Book. A new edition and literary analysis (Prof A Hintze)
  • David Cohen The Biblical Exegesis of Don Isaac Abrabanel (Prof C Hezser)
  • Jennifer Griggs Epistemological dialogue with aspects of the Western discipline of the study of mysticism as it relates to Barhebraeus in conversation with al-Ghazali on the question of the `Concept of God' (Dr E Hunter)
  • Hee Won Kim United Progressive Alliance (2004-14), equality of opportunity and Muslims: a paradigm shift or political pragmatism? (Prof G Singh)
  • Steven J. O'Donnell Owning the Future: Demonologies, Apocalyptics, and the Architecture of Sovereignty in a Time of Terror (Dr S Hawthorne)
 2014
  • Barakatullo Ashurov Tarsakya: an analysis of Sogdian Christianity based on Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphic and Textual Sources (Dr E. Hunter)
  • Afework Hailu Beyene The Shaping of Judaic Identity of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahado Church: historical and literary evidence (Dr E. Hunter)
  • Samantha Anne Langsdale Damaged Bodies: Women's Agency in Trecento Florentine Soteriological Discourses (Dr S Hawthorne)
  • Shinya Mano Yosai and the Transformation of Buddhist Precepts in Pre-modern Japan (Dr L Dolce)
  • Rastin Mehri The Zoroastrian Community in British Columbia (Prof. A. Hintze)
  • Niranjan Saha Philosophy of Advaita Vedanta according to Madhusudana Sarasvati's Gudharthadipika (Dr T. Proferes)
  • Jennifer Ai-Ming Ung Loh  Why vote for a fake kinnar when you can vote for a real one?' Representation and Political Identity among Kinnars in Madhya Pradesh, India (Dr S. Hawthorne)
  • Arash Zeini The Pahlavi version of the Yasna Haptanhaiti (Prof. A. Hintze)
 2013
  • Aristotle Cha Dy Marginal Buddhists: Religion and Identity of a Chinese Minority in the Philippines (Dr A. Palumbo)
  • Ahmet Riza Emitoglu The Exploration of the Idea of Cosmological Process through the Comparison between Ibn Sina and Abhinavagupta (Dr J-P Hartung)
  • Jennifer Langer Exile from Exile: The Representation of Cultural Memory in Literary Texts by Exiled Iranian Jewish Women (Dr S. Hawthorne)
  • Ahmet Riza Emiroglu The Exploration of the Idea of Emanation through the Comparison between the Islamic and Indian Philosophies with Special Reference to Ibn Sīnā and Abhinavagupta.
2012
  • Akil Nisar Awan Conversion to Islam in Contemporary Britain: Motivations, Processes and Consequences ( Prof. B Bocking; Prof. C Hezser)
  • Leon Goldman Rasn Yast. The Avestan hymn to ' Justice'. Text, Translation and Commentary (Prof. A Hintze)
  • James Kimball The Soteriological Role of the Rsi Kapila in the Yuktidipika: the Production and Transmission of Liberating Knowledge in Classical Samkhya ( Prof. T Proferes)
  • Kigen-San Licha The Imperfectible Body: Esoteric Transmissions in Medieval Soto Zen Buddhism (Dr L Dolce)
  • Anna Munster The Changing Face of Islam in Post-Soviet Ukraine: A Study of Arraid in the Light of  Social Movement Theory (Dr K Zebiri)
2011
  • Gregory Deacon The socio-economic role of Pentecostal Churches in Kibera, Nairobi (Prof  Gifford)
  • Lewis Doney Transforming Tibetan Kingship: The portrayal of Khri Srong lde brtsan in the early Buddhist Histories (Dr Ulrich Pagel)
  • Gwendolyn Heaner Destroying the Destroyer of Your Destiny: the Role(s) of Pentecostalism in Post-War Liberia (Prof  Gifford)
  • Satomi Horiuchi Expressing Emotions: Practices of Caring for the Dead in Contemporary Japanese Christianity (Dr L Dolce)
  • Fumi Ouchi The Somatic Nature of Enlightenment: Vocal Arts in the Japanese Tendai Tradition (Dr L Dolce)
  • Benedetta Lomi The Precious Steed of the Buddhist Pantheon: Ritual, Faith and Images of Bato Kannon in Japan (Dr L Dolce)
  • Ligeia Lugli The Conception of Language in Early Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism - With Special Reference to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra (Dr U Pagel)
  • Masaaki Okada Nature in the Healing and Farming Practices of Okada Mokichi of Sekai Kyusei Kyo (Dr L Dolce)
  • Rupinder Kaur Pamme The Pilgrimage To Takht Hazur Sahib and its Place in the Sikh Tradition (Prof  Shackle)
  • Valerie Rylance Lesbian Buddhism? (Prof Bocking)
  • Emily Welty Faith-based NGOs, Peacebuilding and Development: the Mennonite Central Committee's work in East Africa (Prof  Gifford)
 2010
  • William Henry Taylor Narratives of Identity: the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of England 1895-1914. (Dr  Hunter)
  • David Edward Azzopardi Religious Belief and Practice Among Sri Lankan Buddhists in the Uk (Dr K Crosby)
  • Kuan Guang Wutai Shan During the Ming Dynasty (Prof  Barrett)
  • Stefania Travagnin The Madhyamika Dimensions of Yin Shun: A Restatement of the School of Nagarjuna in 20Th Century Chinese Buddhism (Prof  Bocking)
  • Robert William James Wilfred Cantwell Smith's theory of Scripture Related To the Use of the Bible in African Anglicanism (Prof  Gifford)
  • Christine Bodewes Civil Society in Africa: the Role of A Catholic Parish in A Kenyan Slum (Prof  Gifford)
  • Christopher Allen Daily From Gosport To Canton: A New Approach To Robert Morrison and the Beginnings of Protestant Missions in China. (Prof  Barrett)
2009
  • Karel Peter Leonard Gerard Kersten Occupants of the Third Space: New Muslim intellectuals and the Study of Islam (Hasan Hanafi, Mohammed Arkoun, Murchilish Madjid). (Prof  Shackle)
  • Uranchimeg Borjigin Ujeed Indigenous Efforts and Dimensions of Mongolian Buddhism - Exemplified By the Mergen Tradition (Dr T Skorupski)
  • Hasan Ali Khan Shia-Ismaili Motifs in the Sufi Architecture of the indus Valley 1200 - 1500 (Prof  Shackle)
  • James Alexander Kapalo Text, Context, Performance: the Lay institutions of Gagauz Orthodoxy (Prof Gifford)
2008
  • Catherine Sarah Newell Monks, Meditation and Missing Links: Continuity, "Orthodoxy" and the Vijja Dhammakaya in Thai Buddhism. (Dr K Crosby)
  • Katherine Louise Wharton Philosophy As A Practice of Freedom in Ancient india and Ancient Greece (Dr T Proferes)
  • Adil Hussain Khan Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and the Construction of the Ahmadiyya Identity. (Prof  Shackle)
 2007
  • Joanna Elizabeth Marie Sadgrove The Condom Culture Is Not the Kingdom Culture': Dissonant Discourses & Secret Sex Amongst Born-Again University Students in Uganda (Prof  Gifford)
  • Gianpaolo Vetturini The Bka' Gdams Pa School of Tibetan Buddhism (Dr T Skorupski)
  • Sian Melvill Hawthorne Origins, Genealogies and the Politics of Mythmaking: Towards A Feminist Philosophy of Myth (Prof  Gifford)
  • Eamon Francis Adams Towards the Reform of Korean Buddhism During the Japanese Colonial Period, 1910-1935 (Prof  Bocking)
 2006
  • Hugh James Osgood African Neo-Pentecostal Churches and British Evangelicalism 1985-2005; Balancing Principles and Practicalities (Prof  Gifford)
  • Ho Young Lee Dai Zhen's Philosophy of  Ethical Human Being (Prof  Barrett)
  • Ornella Corazza Consciousness and Place': the Phenomenology of the Near-Death Experience (Nde) and Similar States induced By Dissociative Anaesthesia (Dr C Zene)
  • Annette Benaim Judeo-Spanish Testimonies in 16th-Century Responsa (Dr  Stern)
  • Felix Jere Phiri Local Muslim Associations As A Contemporary Way of Isla,Mization in Zambia (Prof  Gifford)
  • Jane Elizabeth Clifford Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: A Study of Charismatic Christianity in Accra, Ghana (Prof  Gifford)
  • Sharmina Mawani The Construction of Identities Amongst Young Adult Nizari Ismailis in Toronto and Mumbai (Prof  Shackle)
  • Oliver Paul Scharbrodt Reconciling Religious Dissidence in Early Baha'Ism and in the Salafiyya: A Comparative Study of 'Abdul-Baha  'Abbas (1844-1921) and Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905) (Prof Shackle)
  • Abdollah Guivian Religion, Television and Culture in Post-Revolutionary Iran (Dr C Zene)
2005
  • Vena Radha Ramphal A Word On Movement: Thinking Approaches To the Dancing  Body (Dr C Zene)
  • Matthew Muriuki Karangi The Sacred Mugumo Tree: Revisiting the Roots of Gikuyu Cosmology and Worship. A Case Study of the Gicugu Gikuyu of Kirinyaga District in Kenya (Dr C Zene)
  • Chengzhong Pu Kindness Towards Animals in Early Chinese Buddhism (Prof  Barrett)
  • Anastasia Karaflogka Religious Discourse and Cyberspace (Prof  Bocking)
  • Chi Ho Ivan Hon Chinese intellectuals' Reconstruction of Confucianism in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century China (Prof  Bocking)
  • Senevi Aturupana Saddha: An Analytical Study of its Role in  theravada Buddhism (Dr T Skorupski)
  • Jonah Avriel Cohen Religious Appreciation and the Mundane-Sacred: A Neglected Area of Philosophy (Dr C Zene)
  • Elena Moreddu Sacred Places in Sardinia - Cumbessias Villages, Sacredness, and the Dialectic of the Work of Art (Dr C Zene)
  • Ci Yuan The Bodhisativa Ideal in Selected Buddhist Scriptures (its theoretical and Practical Evolution) (Dr T Skorupski)
  • Fang-Long Shih Dead Maidens in Taiwan: Breaking Down Chinese Religious Tradition (Dr C Zene)
  • Susan Elizabeth Prill The Sant Tradition and Community formation in the Works of Guru Nanak and Dadu Dayal (Prof  Shackle)