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Prof Laura Moretti has been invited to participate in a MOOC course on the global codex led by colleagues at Keio University. The filming took place on 18 June 2026 at the Cambridge University Library. Prof Moretti's contribution focusses on her current research project on books with engineered design from early modern Japan. Prof Moretti explored …

Prof Laura Moretti and alumnus Joseph Bills were invited in Paris to present their research at the international symposium "It's no laughing matter! Laughter and seriousness in Japanese literature", organized by Université Pari Cité and the Centre de Recherche sur les Civilizations de l'Asie Orientale. Prof Moretti's talk: The Power of Lies: Approp…

Dr Ani Avetisyan, Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, has recently published a book titled “Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic, and Garshuni Versions of Ibn al-Akfānī’s Treatise on Bloodletting”.  What can one eighteenth-century Judaeo-Arabic medical manuscript reveal about language, knowledge, and scribal practice? In th…

Dr Nuri Kim, Associate Professor in Korean Studies, published an article combining Game Studies and Media Archeology in the journal Game Studies. The article delves into the checkered history of the video game arcade in South Korea, placing it against the backdrop of the country's turbulent history from military dictatorship to the IMF crisis and b…

On Friday, 29 May 2026, Dr David Mozina ran a three-hour seminar on “Reading Sources in situ: How Local Genealogies, Hagiographies, and Images Live in Daoist Ritual Contexts” at L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.  The postgraduate seminar, Archives et société en Chine, is convened by Profs Alain Arrault and Michela Bussotti. 

The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies has been recognised among the UK's leading institutions for Asian & Middle Eastern Studies in the Complete University Guide 2026 rankings. The Faculty was ranked first for Asian Studies and received leading recognition for Middle Eastern Studies.

On 21 May 2026, the Korean Studies Section hosted the annual Ra Jong-Yil Distinguished Lecture in Korean Studies. This year’s speaker was Mr Tae Yong-Ho, the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to ever have defected. Mr Tae defected while he was stationed at the North Korean embassy in London in 2016 and was later elected a member of the National…

Hans van de Ven’s Blood Dawn: WWII and the Making of Modern Asia analyses the transformation of Asia, focusing on China, India, and Indonesia, from a region dominated by European empires and Japan into one of sovereign nation-states in the 1939-1955 period. To support independent UK bookshops, it is now available for pre-order at a discount at Book…

On Sunday 10 May, Professor Barak Kushner gave a public talk in Japanese at Toyo Bunko Museum as part of their 100th Anniversary Lecture Series.The lecture was entitled, 戦後東アジアを再編する過程―戦争犯罪裁判の遺産と歴史闘争 (“Reconfiguring Postwar East Asia: The Legacy of War Crimes Tribunals and Struggles over History”)https://toyo-bunko.or.jp/event/2576/

Professor Barak Kushner reflects on languages, history, and the importance of the humanities in shaping global understanding, education, and intercultural dialogue in today’s world.Read the full interview on the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences website. 

The article is published in the European Journal of International SecurityBarak Kushner. Political captives in East Asia: Thought reform and national security. European Journal of International Security. Published online 2026:1-18. doi:10.1017/eis.2026.10049 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-international-security/article/…

On Thursday, 02 April 2026, 17:00 and 18:30 (France time), Prof Laura Moretti is giving a talk at Université Paris Cité on her new book project on early modern Japanese books with engineered design and how the haptic engagement with the physical book shapes the epistemology of reading. Details at the link below.Cycle de conférences : Current Resear…

The title of the speech was: The Roads to Redemption: tracking KMT and Manchukuo war criminals in postwar China and Taiwan. 

Date: 6 - 8 January 2027 Location: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (In-person) The Call for Papers is available here. We are pleased to invite you to the Eleventh International Conference on Iranian Linguistics (ICIL11).The ICIL conferences aim to bring together linguists and philologists of different theoretical backgrounds working on …