Research Fellowships
Dr Michael Willis and Professor Peter Flügel
The Charles H. Norchi Prize
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Dr Charles H. Norchi was among those “Afghan hands” who cut their teeth in the Soviet War of the 1980’s, first as a journalist, then as a human rights lawyer. He reported on many aspects of Afghan life during armed conflict—refugees, development, humanitarian deprivations, Mujahadeen and the foreign policies of States then shaping the trajectory of Afghanistan. As a human rights advocate, Dr Norchi served as Director of the Independent Counsel on International Human Rights, working with the Committee for a Free Afghanistan and later as Executive Director of the International League for Human Rights. As a university professor, Afghanistan remained at the centre of his teaching at Yale, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, Harvard and Maine, where he holds the appointment of Benjamin Thompson Professor of Law in the University of Maine School of Law. His subject areas are International Law, Law of the Sea, Human Rights, International Security, the Arctic and Afghanistan.
In addition to being a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Professor Norchi is co-Chair of the International Institute for Law, Science and Policy (Geneva, Switzerland), Visiting Professor in the Climate Change Institute of the University of Maine and the Institute for the Environment at Brown University, a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the Explorers Club. He has served as Visiting Professor at City University of Hong Kong School of Law, Peking University School of Law, Human Rights Fellow at Harvard Law School, Research Fellow in the Center for Public Leadership in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Myres S. McDougal Fellow in Yale Law School. He holds an A.B. from Harvard College, a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and an LL.M. and a J.S.D. from Yale Law School.
In addition to teaching and writing, Professor Norchi regularly advises international and civil society organisations, governments and law firms while remaining engaged with Afghanistan and her people.
The Surya P. Subedi Prize
The Royal Asiatic Society is delighted to announce the Surya P. Subedi Prize for the publication of a book or article on Nepal in English in any one calendar year. Nominations are invited for publications on Nepal during 2023 and should include a short paragraph of not more than 500 words detailing why the book or article should be considered for the prize accompanied by a short biography of the author and one letter of support. The value of the annual Prize is £500 (five hundred pounds) Nominations for the Prize will close on March 30th 2024. The nominations will then be considered by a panel of judges and the winner will be announced by the end of September 2024.This Prize has been offered by Dr. James J. Busuttil to honour the work and distinguished career of his friend and colleague Professor Surya P. Subedi OBE KC DCL LLD, Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds. A further contribution to the Prize fund was made later by an anonymous benefactor. The Prize will be awarded on the recommendation of three judges appointed by the Society. The Society will be responsible for administering the Prize which will be presented in conjunction with a public lecture to be given by the winner at an open meeting of the Society. All correspondence to be addressed to Dr. Alison Ohta, ao@royalasiaticsociety.org
Professor Surya P. Subedi
Surya Prasad Subedi OBE KC DCL LLD is an international jurist of Nepali origin. He is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds, a member of the Institut de Droit International, and a barrister in London. He served as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia for six years (2009-2015). He also served for five years, starting in 2010, on an advisory group on human rights to the British Foreign Secretary. He has written a number of works on the theory and practice of international law and human rights and acted as a counsel in a number of cases before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice. He also has published widely on Nepal and especially on international legal aspects of Nepal’s external relations. He was the founder-Chair of the Britain-Nepal Academic Council for 10 years (2000-2010) and Joint Co-Chair of the Britain-Nepal Medical Trust (2012-2019). He obtained a DPhil (PhD) in Law with a prize from the University of Oxford in 1993. He was awarded Oxford’s highest accolade – the degree of Doctor of Civil Law – in 2019 and the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the University of Hull in 2020. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (Hon) in 2017 in recognition of his contribution to international law and human rights. He has received high-level state honours from the monarchs of the UK and Nepal. He was made an OBE in 2004 by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the UK; and was decorated with the Suprabal Gorkhadaxinbahu by His late Majesty King Birendra of Nepal in 1998. He also was awarded another high-level state honour – the Prasiddha Prabal Janasewa Shree – by the President of Nepal on the occasion of the National Day of Nepal in 2022.
The Professor Mary Boyce Prize for an Article relating to the study of religion in Asia:
The Royal Asiatic Society will again be awarding the Boyce prize for articles relating to the study of religion in Asia. Award winning submissions will receive £250 and be published in the Society’s peer-reviewed Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society which, since 1834, has provided a forum for scholarly articles of the highest quality on South Asia, the Middle East (together with North Africa and Ethiopia), Central Asia, East Asia and South-East Asia. The focus of the prize is any religion, anywhere in Asia and at any time, and the Society’s main aim is to encourage the submission of pieces of original, unpublished research that make innovative contributions to understanding, learning and scholarship.
The David Morgan Memorial Prize
Professor David Morgan was the editor of the Journal from the mid-1980s until the start of this century and through his editorship, rigorous research on the history, thoughts and values of the Mongols and other Asian cultures, was made widely available.
David’s impact on learning and thought went further than just publishing. He nurtured a sense of enquiry and constructive critical thought in so many from undergraduates through to early career colleagues. Professor Peter Frankopan has generously offered this prize to be used to provide a small annual award to the author of a Journal article published during a calendar year. Authors will be asked to indicate whether they are eligible for the prize when they submit their article to the Journal. Entry will be confined to those who have completed their PhDs within the last 10 years to reflect David’s commitment to education and to the encouragement of younger scholars.
The Royal Asiatic Society’s New Barwis-Holliday Award
Scholars are invited to submit papers for the New Barwis-Holliday Award. Submissions should be new unpublished research on any of the following subjects; anthropology, art, history, literature or religion of any part of East Asia. East Asia is defined as being Japan, China, Korea and the eastern-most regions of the former Soviet Union. The winning article will be published in the Journal, as will all short-listed entries. The author of the winning entry will also receive a £250 cash prize.
No rigid limit is imposed on the length of a submission, although 6,000 words is deemed to be a comfortable length. Papers should be emailed in word.doc form accompanied by a pdf and clearly marked as a Barwis-Holliday.
Submission to info@royalasiaticsociety.org
The Royal Asiatic Society Award
This award is made every three years, in recognition of outstanding contribution to scholarship in the field of Asian Studies. It has replaced the RAS Gold Medal which was last awarded in 1990. The first recipient of the award was John Gullick in 2001, a noted scholar of the Malay world. Other recipients include Professor Edmund Bosworth in 2003, Professor Christopher Shackle in 2006, Professor Sir Christopher Bayly in 2009, and Dr Bridget Allchin and Professor David Bivar in 2014.
The Sir Richard Burton Medal
Sir Richard Burton was one of the Society’s most famous and adventurous members. The award was established in 1923, in conjunction with the Richard Burton Memorial Lecture Programme, which was set up a few years before to mark the 100th anniversary of Burton’s birth. The person who receives the award is also expected to deliver the lecture, on Burton, his travels, or some related topic. Well-known scholars and travellers who have received the award include Freya Stark (1934) and Wilfred Thesiger (1966). It was awarded to Simon Digby in 1999, Professor David Snellgrove in 2004, Ralph Pinder Wilson in 2009 and Professor Caroline Humphrey in 2014.
The Denis Sinor Medal
This award was inaugurated in 1993 by Professor Denis Sinor, specifically to honour scholars in the field of Inner Asian Studies. It was awarded in 2001 to Academician Sh. Bira for his outstanding work on Mongolia and Inner Asian historiography. Previous recipients were Professor Sir Harold Bailey in 1993 and Professor Karl Jettmar in 1998. It was awarded in 2007 to Dr Igor de Rachewiltz and Professor Nicholas Sims Williams in 2015.