SOAS University of London

South East Asia Section, School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics

South East Asia Section Staff

Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Dr Ben Murtagh

Learning & Teaching Coordinator

Professor Justin Watkins

Research Coordinator

Professor Irina Nikolaeva

Personal Advisors

Year 1: Prof. Justin Watkins

Year 2: Dr Sallehuddin bin Abdullah Sani

Years 3/4: Dr Mulaika Hijjas

Undergraduate Admissions Tutor

Prof. Rachel Harrison

Undergraduate Programme Convenors

Prof. Rachel Harrison (BA South East Asian Studies, BA Thai and...)

Prof. Justin Watkins (BA Burmese and...)

Dr Ben Murtagh (BA Indonesian and...)

Dr Dana Healy (BA Vietnamese and...)

Postgraduate Programme Convenor

Dr Mulaika Hijjas (MA Pacific Asian Studies, MA South East Asia Studies)

Research Tutor

Prof. Rachel Dwyer

Please note that for Masters Students the Admissions Tutor and Personal Tutor is the Postgraduate Programme Convenor.

Rachel V Harrison
Professor of Thai Cultural Studies
Rachel Harrison
Modern Thai Cultural Studies, Cinema and Literature; gender studies with reference to Thailand; literary criticism and South East Asian Literatures in a comparative context; Western film set in South East Asia
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4247
  • Email: rh6@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 455
  • Office Hours: Fridays 1.30-3.30pm
Dana Healy
Senior Lecturer in Vietnamese
Dana Healy
Modern Vietnamese cultural studies (literature, film, gender); Vietnamese social and cultural history (the Vietnam War; art and politics); the sociology of contemporary Vietnamese literature; the Vietnamese diaspora
  • Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4252
  • Email: dh4@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 465
  • On Sabbatical:On sabbatical, 2016-17
Mulaika Hijjas
Lecturer in South East Asian Studies
Mulaika Hijjas

The Malay manuscript tradition; Islam in South East Asia; gender in the Malay world; modern literatures of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore

  • Tel: +44(0) 20 7898 4253
  • Email: mh86@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 454
  • Office Hours: Friday 3-5pm
Ben Murtagh
Senior Lecturer in Indonesian and Malay
Ben Murtagh
Modern Indonesian cinema and literature; queer studies and sexuality in Indonesia; representation of genders and sexuality in Southeast Asian film and literatures; traditional Malay literature
  • Tel: +44(0)20 7898 4248
  • Email: bm10@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 466
  • Office Hours: (Term 2) Monday 1-2pm, Thursday 2-3pm
Justin Watkins
Professor of Burmese
Justin Watkins

Burmese languages and Burmese linguistics; language policy in Burma; experimental and acoustic phonetics; computer lexicography; minority languages of South East Asia; Mon-Khmer and Tibeto Burman languages; tone languages. Sign languages in Burma and South East Asia.

  • Tel: 020 7898 4254
  • Email: jw2@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 462
  • Office Hours: email for an appointment
  • On Sabbatical:On leave, Term 2 (2016-17)

Senior Lectors

Teaching Fellows

Research Associates

Cristina Martinez-Juan
Research Associate
Cristina Juan

Philippine Post-colonial and Comparative Literature Studies; British Occupation of Manila; Philippine languages and linguistics; Ethnography of Communication; Writing systems; Southeast Asian Studies; Gender and Migration

Emeritus Professors

Vladimir I Braginsky
Emeritus Professor; Professorial Research Associate
Vladimir Braginski
Malay and Indonesian classical and modern literature and culture; Islam in the Malay-Indonesian world; Islamic literature of South East Asia; comparative study of South East Asian literatures; Malay philology and traditional literature sufism in Malay literature
E Ulrich Kratz
Emeritus Professor; Professorial Research Associate
SEA-img-Kratz Ernst
Traditional Malay philology; the contemporary literatures, cultures and societies of the Malay-speaking world; Malay society; Malay culture; Malay history; Malay politics; Malay religion