SOAS University of London

South Asia Section, School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics

South Asia Section Staff

Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Dr Nana Sato-Rossberg

Head of South Asia Section

Mr Naresh Sharma

BA Convenors

Mr Naresh Sharma and Dr Lidia Wojtczak (all BA programmes and ISP / Extended Essay)

MA Convenors

Dr David Lunn and Dr Ben Murtagh

Research Tutor; PhD Admissions Tutor

Professor Wen-chin Ouyang

UG Admissions Tutor 

Mr Mohamed Said

UG Academic Advisers

Year1: Mr Naresh Sharma

Years 2-4: Dr Lidia Wojtczak

NB: Masters Students, your Academic Adviser is your MA Programme Convenor

UG Exams Sub-board

Professor Rachel Harrison (Chair)

Academic Staff

Mr Naresh Sharma
Senior Lecturer in Urdu and Hindi
Naresh Sharma
Urdu and Hindi language
  • Tel: +44(0) 20 7898 4296
  • Email: ns19@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 452
  • Academic Support Hours: Monday 3-4pm, Thursday 3-4pm

Teaching Fellows

Dr David Lunn
Research Associate and Senior Teaching Fellow
David Lunn

19th- and 20th-century Hindi and Urdu literature; cinema; music; journalism; north Indian literary history; intellectual history; literary translation; literary and cultural history of Southeast Asia; Malay; comparative literature; postcolonial studies.

  • Tel: 020 7898 4294
  • Email: dl24@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 457
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesdays 10.30–12.00, or by appointment

Research Associates

Dr Jason Birch
Research Associate
Birch Jason - SAS IMG 240 186 56

Indian history; religions; Sanskrit; yoga; Śaivism; āyurveda; textual criticism; codicology

Dr Csaba Kiss
Kiss Csaba - SA IMG - 485 186 56

History of Indian religions; Śaivism; mediaeval history of yoga; castes; Indian poetry; Indian inscriptions

Dr William Radice
Research Associate
Staff Silhouette
Bengali language and literature; Tagore; Michael Madhusudan Dutt; 19th century Bengal; literary translation; poetry in Bangladesh.
Dr Renate Söhnen-Thieme
Research Associate
Renate Sohnen Thieme
Sanskrit language and literature; classical Indian religions; folklore and music of Baltistan
Dr Hanne-Ruth Thompson
Research Associate
Hanne-Ruth Thompson

Structural and descriptive linguistics, syntax, semantics, Bengali grammar and lexicography, philosophy of language

Emeritus Professors

Professor Rachel Dwyer
Professor Emerita of Indian Cultures and Cinema
Rachel Dwyer

Hindi Cinema; Indian popular culture; Indian film; Hinduism; new middle classes; Mumbai/Bombay

Professor Christopher Shackle
Emeritus Professor of the Modern Languages of South Asia
Staff Silhouette

Punjabi and Urdu languages and literatures; regional languages of Pakistan and North-West India; Sufism and Islam in South Asia; Sikhism and its scriptures; comparative literature of the Islamic world.