What's On
What's On at the AIIT
We hold regular public lectures at 5:30pm on Friday evenings during University term in addition to special events, conferences, workshops and occasional exhibitions. We also have an active Friends group. As part of the 'family', Friends are invited to special events, our traditional Summer Garden Party and other social functions, and are always welcome to visit the Trust.
To be informed of future events, please sign up to our mailing list via our Contact page.
You can also watch some of our past talks on our YouTube Channel
Easter Term 2025
All welcome. Talks begin at 5:30pm. Refreshments are served from 5pm.
For further information about this term's lectures and speakers, click here.
Friday 2 May
Pavel Lurje, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Revisiting the Ex-'Unknown Script' of Hellenistic Bactria

Inscription at Almosi gorge, Tajikistan. © Muhsin Bobomulloev
Friday 9 May
Daniel J. Sheffield, Princeton University
The Students of the School of Doctrines: The Many Lives of a 17th-Century Encyclopedia of Religions

An encounter between Sarmad Kashani (d. 1661 CE), a Sufi of Iranian Jewish origin, with the Mughal Prince Dara Shukoh (d. 1659). The accompanying Persian quatrain reads, 'Sarmad, who attained union with the Eternal, / reached the station of Muhammad himself. Even the executioner's sword could not sober him, / since he was drunk with the wine of divine union.' From the Tajalli ʿAli Album, Princeton University Library MS 102G, f. 3v.
Friday 23 May
M.B. Rajani, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru; University of Cambridge
Reimagining Mahābodhi: Tracing the Sacred Landscape Beyond the Temple

The Bodhi tree at the Mahābodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, Bihar, India.
Friday 13 June
Yousef Moradi, SOAS University of London
The Sasanian Royal Garden at Qasr-e Shirin: An Expression of Political Authority and Imperial Ideology

The Royal Garden and the Palace of Emarat-e Khosrow at Qasr-e Shirin. © Yousef Moradi