Team Members | Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Online

Prof. Finn Moore Gerety

Prof. Gerety is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at the University of Oxford, and a historian of Asian religions. His research centres on Sanskrit texts and Hindu rituals, particularly mantras. He co-leads the “Mantras in Religion, Media and Society in Global Southern Asia” (MANTRAMS) project, funded by a European Research Council Synergy Grant. His upcoming book, All This is OM, will be the first scholarly monograph on the sacred syllable OM.

Dr Premraj Neupane

Associate Professor, Department of Buddhist Philosophy and Sanskrit Language Studies at Nepal Sanskrit University.

Aleksandar Uskokov

Aleksandar Uskokov is a scholar specialising in Indian philosophy and the history of ideas, particularly within the traditions of Vedānta, Mīmāṁsā, and Vaishnavism. He is a Senior Lector in Sanskrit at the South Asian Studies Council at Yale University. Aleksandar holds a PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. Publications include contributions to the Springer Encyclopedia of Hinduism and Tribal Religions and The Philosophy of the Brahma-sutra: An Introduction, published by Bloomsbury Academic.

Dr Sarah Shaw

Sarah Shaw is a longtime practitioner and teacher of Buddhism. She is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and faculty member and lecturer at the University of Oxford. She is the Khyentse Foundation Reader in Buddhist Studies, University of South Wales. She has taught and published numerous works on the history and practices of Buddhism, including Mindfulness and Spirit of Buddhist Meditation.

Prof. Patrick Olivelle

Patrick Olivelle is Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. His current research focuses on the ancient Indian legal tradition of Dharmaśāstra. He has edited and translated the four early Dharmasūtras and prepared a critical edition of the Law Code of Manu (Mānava Dharmaśāstra). Among his many other works is an award-winning translation of the early Upaniṣads. Prof. Olivelle has won several prestigious fellowships, including Guggenheim, NEH, and ACLS. He was elected Vice President of the American Oriental Society in 2004 and President in 2005.

Natasha Chawla

Natasha Chawla is a DPhil Candidate in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, focusing on Tagore’s Nature Philosophy. Her work and interests include Environmental Philosophy and Hinduism in particular Vedanta, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and Inter and Intrafaith dialogue.

Dr Kenneth Valpey

Ken Valpey is one of the OCHS’s early students receiving his Doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2004. He is a theologian with a particular interest in animal ethics. He is an OCHS Fellow and a co-director of our Bhagavata Purana Research Project.

Prof. Ravi Gupta

Ravi was an early Doctoral student at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. He now holds the Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies and serves as Professor and Department Head of the Department of History at Utah State University. He is the author or editor of four books, including an abridged translation of the Bhagavata Purana with Kenneth Valpey (Columbia University Press, 2017). Ravi has received four teaching awards, a National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship, and two research fellowships at Oxford. He is a Permanent Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and a past president of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies. His current research focuses on the Bhagavata Purana’s Sanskrit commentaries.