Siddharth Shanker Saxena
Director of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Jesus College, University of Cambridge 

Siddharth Shanker Saxena is Director of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He trained as an anthropologist, historian and as a physicist and holds PhD. degrees both in Experimental Physics and Social Anthropology. His research interests are in the areas of religion and identity, knowledge systems, social and political development and institutional history in Central Asia and the Middle East.
He has been involved in field based research in Central Asia, The Caucasus Russia and China. His work focus is, on the one side, on fundamental physics of magnetic and superconducting materials and in creation of scientific and industrial technology platforms, while on the other in studying social and economic development in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Azerbaijan. He has recently initiated collaborations with Turkmenistan. He was made Honorary Professor by a number of institutions in Eurasia. He serves on science review committees of many European, American and Asian bodies and has created a number of technology start-ups.