OCHS Annual-Report-2019

This report presents an overview of activities conducted at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies during
the academic year 2018-19, covering teaching, research, and outreach events. We are pleased to
present this report on the hard work and dedication of faculty and staff.
Over the year the OCHS has begun a number of new research initiatives that bear witness to the breadth
of Hindu Studies and the wide range of research interests of Faculty and Fellows.
The OCHS has hosted five major conferences, four of which are linked to the research projects and one
a new development as the OCHS takes over the hosting of the Sanskrit Tradition in the Modern World conference,
previously hosted by Dr Hirst at Manchester University. Three new Research Projects were also
launched this academic year: The Beginnings of the Hindu Temple, The Comparative Study of Religion,
and Vedānta in Practice.
All Faculty have published the results of their research over the year in books and journals as well as
contributing to teaching and administration in the Theology and Religion Faculty.
We are proud of this achievement and look forward to further development in the coming academic
year. Not only do we see the OCHS as an institution at the forefront of Hindu Studies but also as an institution
important for the academic study of religions, promoting the highest standards of philological rigour,
detailed ethnography, along with conceptual consideration, historical understanding, and theological and
philosophical reflection.
The Academic Year 2018-19
The OCHS developed its research projects and continued to offer teaching to the University and to develop
its further education courses.
Teaching
OCHS faculty provided teaching for the Faculty of Theology and Religion for undergraduates (Single and
Joint Honours) and postgraduates (the Master of Studies (MSt) in the Study of Religion) as well as supervising
DPhil and MPhil students and supporting the academic administration of transfer and confirmation
of status for DPhil students. OCHS faculty were both internal examiners for DPhil students and external
examiners for PhD’s from other universities.
Undergraduate teaching involves offering Hinduism I and II in the Michaelmas and Hilary Terms, the lectures
being presented by Dr Rembert Lutjeharms. There is also a Further Studies in Hinduism paper that has been
offered this year. Sanskrit is offered by Dr Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen for the Prelims in Theology and Religion.
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