Currently:

• Director, Situgyan Consulting Ltd.


• Research Fellow, Numata Centre for Buddhist Studies, Hamburg University

Qualifications:

• DPhil 2004 ‘The 15th-Century Renaissance of Newar Buddhism’. Oriental Institute, Oxford. Supervisor, Prof. Richard Gombrich. Examiners, Prof. Alexander von Rospatt, Prof. David Gellner.


• MPhil 1998 Oriental Institute, Oxford. Classical Indian Religions.


• MA 1990 University of Chicago.


• BA 1986 Reed College, Portland, Oregon.

Experience:

• 2018-19 Asian University for Women
  
  
  
  • 2019 Professor of Anthropology Head of Learning and Teaching Enhancement
  
  
  • 2018 Associate Professor, Asian Philosophy and Comparative Religion
  
  
  
  


• 2004-17 University of Aberdeen
  
  
  
  • 2015-17 Director, Confucius Institute and Wuhan-Aberdeen Joint Research Institute
  
  
  • 2014-17 Senior Lecturer, Anthropology of Environments and Religions
  
  
  • 2005-14 Lecturer, Anthropology of Environments and Religions (Research leave 2010-13)
  
  
  • 2005-17 Buddhist Chaplain
  
  
  • 2004 Teaching Fellow, Asian Religions
  
  
  
  


• 2011-13 Visiting Scientist, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.


• 2010 Tung Lin Kok Yuen Distinguished Visiting Professor in Buddhist Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough.


• 2007-18 Visiting Lecturer, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh


• 2004 Project Manager, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies.


• 2002-03 Visiting Lecturer, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.


• 1993-95 International information systems officer, Oxfam UK.


• 1992-95 Policy, planning, and outreach, Association for Progressive Communication.


• 1993 Teaching Assistant, Stanford University Religion Department


• 1991-92 Systems Analyst, University of Chicago.

Research awards, honours and funding.

• 2018 Fo Guang Shan (£3000) Presidents’ Forum and research planning.


• 2017 Fo Guang Shan (£2400) to attend Presidents’ Forum. International Mountain Tourism Association (£1200) for travel to meeting.


• 2016 Elphinstone PhD, Stephanie Garrison (full international fees) British Council Women Scientists fellowship for Tahira Mengal (£4500) International Mountain Tourism Association (£3200) meeting and research.


• 2015 Matina award om international Newar community.


• 2011-13 Wellcome Trust grant for research leave in the Central Himalayas: ‘Newar traditional medicine: social and material networks, 1750-1980’. (£183,000).


• 2010-11 Royal Society of Edinburgh: Immigrant Buddhist perspectives on the Scottish government and landscape (£2256).


• 2010 AHRC PhD fellowship for Drew Milne, ‘Virtual rituals and the construction of online religious communities. ’ (full fees and stipend)


• 2009 AHRC and ORSAS PhD fellowship for Kamal Adhikari, ‘Ethnoecology and policy in Nepal’ (full international fees and stipend)


• 2008 Aberdeen University Research and Teaching grant: Temporary ordination at a Buddhist monastery in a virtual world. (£500)


• 2007 Carnegie Trust grant to study bat ethnoecology, traditional medical practices and trade routes in Central Himalayas.(£2420) Charles Wallace Trust fellowship for Latika Gupta, research fellow at the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research.(£2400) Lubee Bat Conservancy grant to attend First Southeast Asian Bat Conference.(£500)


• 2004 Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation funding to co-ordinate manuscript preservation with the Buddhist Studies Network, Bodleian and the Buddhist Library of Japan.(£1000)


• 2002 South Asian Studies Society fellowship to prepare catalogue of materials in Calcutta. (£650)


• 1996-7 Boden Fellow in Sanskrit, University of Oxford.

Editorial and external commitments

Editorships:

• Thai International Journal of Buddhist Studies Editorial Board, 2014—


• Buddhist Studies Review Editorial Board, 2006-12


• H-Buddhism (www.h-net.org) Reviews editor 2002-4


• Humbul (AHRC humanities hub) Editor, Buddhism section, 2000-⒊


• European Bulletin of Himalayan Research Editor, 1999-200⒉


• Chicago Review Associate Editor, 38:1-2 (1992) ‘New Writing in India’


• The Baffler Typography and design, vols 2-3 (1992-3).

External commitments.

• 2017- Fo Guang Shan University Presidents’ Forum


• 2016-8 Founding member, International Mountain Tourism Association


• 2011- Research Associate, Missouri Botanic Garden.


• 2010-12 Member, GLORIA project. (http://www.gloria.ac.at).


• 2004-12 ISO Unicode committee for defining and encoding Ranjana and Newari scripts.


• 2001-9 Buddhist Healthcare Chaplaincy Committee, NHS (in England)


• 1990- International Network of Engaged Buddhists

Scientific Societies:

• Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society (1998-) Fellow, Royal Anthropological Institute (2007-)


• 2013- Member, Anthropology and Environment Committee Member, European Association of Social Anthropologists (2017-)


• Honorary Fellow, Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas Association (ICCA) (2019-)


• Commissioner, World Conservation Union (IUCN)


• Commission on Environment, Equity and Social Policy; World Parks Commission


• 2012- Steering Committee, Working Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas


• 2012-5 Co-chair, Mountain Connectivity Working Group

Research Supervision:

• Masters’ theses, University of Aberdeen.


• Juan Caraballo-Resto. Islam in Mexico. (MLitt 2005)


• Cathy Lewis. Treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera among folk healers in Kathmandu (MSc 2007).


• Kamal Adhikari. Territory, legality and Yarsa Gumba. (MSc 2009).


• Drew Milne. Religious rituals in virtual worlds. (MLitt 2010).


• Marilena Frisone. Tenrikyo among Newars. (MLitt 2013)


• Claire Hutchinson. Alcohol and Religion in Scotland (MLitt 2014)


• Robin Bortner. Origins of Tarot. (MLitt 2015)

PhD supervision, University of Aberdeen.

• Completed
  
  
  
  • Haokip, Jhangkholam. A theological study of identity among the tribal people of North-East India with a special reference to the Kukis of Manipur. 2010
  
  
  • Butcher, Andrea. Keeping the faith: an investigation into the ways that Tibetan Buddhist ethics and practice inform and direct development activity in Ladakh, North-West India. (AHRC funded). 2013
  
  
  • Adhikari, Kamal. Plants, people and the politics of ethnobotanical knowledge in Nepal. 2014 (AHRC/ORSAS funded; supervised 2010-13).
  
  
  • Kentner, Jasper. Integrating monetary and non-monetary approaches to the assessment of shared, plural and cultural values of ecosystem services. 20⒕ (NERC funded; supervised 2011-2).
  
  
  • Garrison, Stephanie. Biocultural Diversity around the Stone Circles of Northeast Scotland (Aberdeen funded. Supervised 2016-7).
  
  
  
  


• Suspended
  
  
  
  • Ardern, Paul. The Sikkimese 16 Arhats in the Bothwell Collection.
  
  
  • Milne, Drew. Religious ritual and community cohesion in virtual worlds (AHRC funded).
  
  
  
  

MA supervision, University of Toronto.: Hillman, Sean. End of life care in Buddhism: a new paradigm. (2010-11)

Other Activities:

• Peer review: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Oryx, International Journal of Biodiversity Science and Management, Journal of Ethnomedicine and Ethnopharmacology, Ethnobiology, Ecohealth, Asian medicine: Tradition and Modernity; Environmental Archaeology; Continuum Books; Bloomsbury Press; Economic and Social Science Research Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Wellcome Trust.


• External examining.
  
  
  
  • 2016-7 External advisor, Environmental Humanities programme, University of Wollongong
  
  
  • 2015 External examiner, Diana Quiroz Villareal, ‘Don't be aaid of the supernatural! The relevance of ritual plant use for traditional culture, nature conservation, and human health in western Africa’. PhD, Wageningen University.
  
  
  • 2010-14 External examiner, Religious Studies programme, University of Stirling Languages English (native). Scots, Spanish, Newari, Nepali (near fluent). German, French, Bengali (conversational). Sanskrit (written, very good). Tibetan, Pali (written, rusty). Mandarin (learning).