News

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. 

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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 …

Joining by invitation from the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, Professor Nilsson-Wright's talk focused on domestic politics and the foreign policy of the ROK, as well as regional geopolitics and ROK policy towards the DPRK, the United States, Japan, and relation between the ROK and the UK.

Professor Barak Kushner's latest publication, The Geography of Injustice: East Asia’s Battle between Memory and History, has received an honourable mention for the John Whitney Hall Prize (Japan) in this year's AAS book prizes.

Professor Nilsson-Wright has featured on the BBC's Today programme and France24's The Debate, providing comment and expert analysis of the recent election victory by Japan's Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi.Listen at the links below:BBC - Today Programme (Prof Nilsson-Wright features around the 49 minute mark)France24 - The Debate (video)

AMES Sultan Qaboos Professor of Modern Arabic Studies and Chair of the Judges for the 2025 Banipal Said Ghobash Translation Prize will be in conversation with this year’s prize winner, Marilyn Booth, at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, on Friday 13 February. Register for online or in-person attendance here: https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/celebrating-2…

The event will take place at Foyle's bookshop, London on Friday 13 Mar 2026 19:00 - 20:30.To buy a ticket & for more information, follow the link below to the Foyle's website:https://www.foyles.co.uk/events/emi-yagi-and-satoshi-yagisawa-in-conversation 

Professor Montgomery FBA and Dr Lydia Wilson have launched a new podcast series. Called The Classical Arabic Literature Podcast, the first four episodes, covering pre-Islamic Arabia, science and theology in ninth century Iraq, philosophical encyclopedism, and twelfth century mysticism in Islamic Spain, are available from most podcast platforms. Jus…