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

Dr James Mallinson

BA Convenors

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

MA Convenor

Dr James Mallinson (all MA programmes)

Research Tutor; PhD Admissions Tutor

Professor Wen-chin Ouyang

UG Admissions Tutor 

Mr Mohamed Said

UG Academic Advisers

Year 1: Dr Naresh Sharma

Year 2: Dr Lidia Wojtczak

Years 3-4: Dr Naresh Sharma

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

UG Exams Sub-board

Professor Rachel Harrison (Chair); Dr James Mallinson (Deputy)

Academic Staff

Professor Francesca Orsini
Professor of Hindi and South Asian Literature
Francesca Orsini
Hindi Literature; North Indian literary cultures; Hindi; Urdu.
  • Tel: + 44(0)20 7898 4242
  • Email: fo@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 419
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesdays 3-5pm. Email for an appointment

Senior Lectors

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 Stefanie Lotter
Co-Investigator 'After the Earth's Violent Sway: The tangible and intangible legacies of a natural disaster'
Co-Investigator ‘Dignity Without Danger: Collaboratively Analysing Stigma and Taboos to Develop Innovative Strategies to Address Menstrual Exclusion in Nepal’
LOTTER Stefanie - SA IMG - 485 186 56

Nepali society and culture; museology; social and cultural anthropology of the Himalaya; elite studies; heritage studies

  • Tel: +44(0)20 7898 4711
  • Email: sl70@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 460
  • Academic Support Hours: Thursday: 10.00-12.00
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: Tue 2.00–3.30, or by appointment

Research Associates

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 Michael J Hutt
Professor Emeritus of Nepali and Himalayan Studies
Michael Hutt
Nepali literature; the Nepali media; Nepali politics; Bhutanese refugees.
  • Tel: 020 7898 4286
  • Email: mh8@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 359
  • Academic Support Hours: Tuesday 2-3pm, Thursday 4-5pm
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.

Research Fellows

Dr Jason Birch
Postdoctoral Researcher, ERC-Funded Hatha Yoga Project
Birch Jason - SAS IMG 240 186 56

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