A busy season at the Ancient India and Iran Trust included a Himalaya Study Afternoon on 29 November celebrating Christophe Roustan-Delatour’s work on the Penelope Betjeman (Chetwode) Collection of photographs of Himachal Pradesh. The seminar looked at related collections in presentations by Anna Maria Motrescu-Mayes of the Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge; John Falconer of the British Library and Christophe Roustan-Delatour from the Museums of Cannes. Richard Blurton (British Museum) and Ursula Sims Williams (British Library and AIIT) chaired. The capacity audience for Christophe’s public lecture the same evening included Penelope Betjeman’s daughter, Candida Lycett-Green.
The first Allchin Symposium on South Asian Archaeology – established to commemorate the work of Bridget and Raymond Allchin – was held 6-7 December 2013 and brought together UK-based scholars working in South Asian archaeology, history and the history of art and architecture, including established lecturers as well as post-doctoral researchers and PhD students. The event provided a forum for the presentation and discussion of current research as well as methodological and theoretical concerns that affect research on South Asia. The aim was to strengthen research, foster new ideas and promote synergies between different areas, periods and subjects of study. Following a lively keynote address by Adam Hardy of Cardiff University on the evening of 6 December at the McDonald Institute, the symposium continued the next day at the Ancient India and Iran Trust, chaired by Dr Cameron Petrie (Trustee) and Dr Jason Hawkes.
On 26 November 2013, the Ambassador of Afghanistan, H.E. Dr Daud Yaar visited the Trust for a briefing on the activities of the Trust and the work of the University in Afghan archaeology, Iranian languages and Islamic studies. Later that day he visited King’s College to see rooms associated with Lord Keynes and held a question and answer session with students and teachers in the Faculty of Human, Social and Political Sciences.