Meet the Team

Dr Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts and the author of  The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth (Routledge 2018),  The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth  (Routledge 2020). Having taught comparative religion and mythology at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for a decade, he now Tutors…

Guy L. Beck is a scholar, author, musician, educator, historian of religions, and musicologist. A Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellow and Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (Oxford University, UK), he is Lecturer in Philosophy, Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Tulane University, and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at Loyola University New…

Dr Daniela Bevilacqua is an Indianist specialising in Hindu asceticism, investigated through an ethnographic and historical perspective. She is currently a researcher at CRIA (ISCTE-IUL) in Lisbon. She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at SOAS, for the ERC-funded Haṭha Yoga Project (2015–2020). She is the author of Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India , published…

Mandakranta Bose is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. She is also Professor Emerita, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Canada. She studied Sanskrit and Hindu religious texts in Calcutta, comparative literature in Vancouver, and holds a doctorate from Oxford in textual studies in the classical performing arts of India.…

Måns Broo is a senior lecturer in Religious Studies at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. His research interests include yoga, tantra, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Dr Broo is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). in Los Angeles.  He has published more than twenty books including Karma and Creativity ; Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions ; Yoga and the…

Prof. Gavin Flood is Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion at Oxford University, Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall . His publications include  Religion and the Philosophy of Life  (2019),  The Truth Within: A History of Inwardness in Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism  (2013),  The…

Dr Jessica Frazier has degrees in Sanskrit, Religious Studies, and Philosophy of Religion from Oxford and Cambridge. Dr Frazier edits the Journal of Hindu Studies and teaches Hinduism and other religious traditions at Oxford University. She recently published Reality, Religion, and Passion , a comparison of Western and Indian approaches to religious truth.

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 a D.Phil. in Theology and Religion at Oxford, Alan is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. His current projects include philosophical approaches to the Vaiṣṇava concept of God and the intersection between Hinduism and secular society.

Lal Krishna is from Australia. He studied Linguistics at Deakin University, Melbourne, and has a BSc in Computing. Lal is your first port of call if you need help with anything administrative or technical. You can email him at lal@ochs.org.uk or by using the contact form.

Layne teaches Hinduism, Buddhism, Esoterism, and Religion and Popular Culture at U.C. Berkeley and at California State University: Sacramento. He wrote the “Hinduism” and “Buddhism” chapters in Oxford University Press’ newest world religions textbook, Invitation to World Religions . He is co-author of OUP’s Invitation to Western Religions and Invitation to Asian Religions . In…

Danny is an independent film maker, camera operator, and DP. He started his career in the industry as a child actor, finally moving into the technical side of film making in 2010. His talent is to tell engaging stories, factual or fictional, with strong visual images.

Gitte has a Masters in Religious Studies from Aarhus University, Denmark but has completed most of her studies in Varanasi, India, and as a visiting student at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Gitte’s focus is on Yoga, Tantra, and Sanskrit. She is also a dedicated practitioner of āsana and prāṇāyāma . She manages the…

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…

Daniel Simpson brings yoga history and philosophy to life. He’s the author of two books on these subjects –  The Truth of Yoga  (2021) and  The   Evolution of Modern Yoga  (forthcoming) – as well as hosting the Ancient Futures podcast. Daniel has an M.A. in yoga studies from SOAS (University of London), where he…

Dr Zoë Slatoff has created and tutors a comprehensive series of Sanskrit courses for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. She has a PhD in Religion and Philosophy from Lancaster University and an MA in Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. She teaches Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy in the Yoga Studies MA program at…

Nick is the Director – and the heart and soul – of the OCHS Continuing Education Department. He is a dedicated teacher with decades of experience in making sometimes-confusing traditions relevant. He has created over a dozen online courses and is working on many more. He has written translations and commentary on Bhagavad Gītā and…

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.