School Of Advanced Studies

Founded in 2017, the School of Advanced Studies (SAS) is the Highland Institute’s dedicated academic wing. It was created to nurture emerging scholarship, train early-career researchers, and foster interdisciplinary knowledge production within the Himalayan region and beyond. SAS serves as the institutional home for all academic programmes, training initiatives, intensive workshops, internships, and public lectures conducted under the auspices of the Highland Institute.

SAS complements the Institute’s active research division, offering a pedagogical counterpart to our field-based projects and policy engagements. By integrating research with education, SAS provides a vibrant intellectual environment for critical inquiry, peer exchange, and advanced mentorship.

Core Programmes

The flagship academic programme of the School is the Postgraduate Certificate in Research (PGCertR)—a one-year, immersive training in qualitative and interdisciplinary research methods. Structured around four key phases (summer school, fieldwork, colloquium, and thesis submission), the PGCertR equips students with the skills, guidance, and experience necessary to contribute meaningfully to scholarship and policy debates.

SAS also oversees:

• Internships & Research Training: Project-specific methods training, often not open to the public, but sometimes accessible in collaboration with project teams.
• Academic Workshops & Symposia: Delivered in collaboration with visiting scholars, these include focused sessions on ethnographic research, historiography, citizen science, and digital humanities.
• Institutional Partnerships: SAS has conducted collaborative seminars with institutions such as Kohima Science College, Phek Government College, and several universities in India and abroad.

Our Vision

The School of Advanced Studies is designed not only to train capable researchers but to build a scholarly ecosystem rooted in Northeast India, while maintaining strong transnational links. As we continue to grow, SAS envisions expanding beyond the PGCertR to offer modular and focused graduate programmes in anthropology, philosophy, medical humanities, indigenous knowledge systems, environmental humanities, and historical research.

 

Our Approach

SAS is built on three core principles:

• Interdisciplinarity: Our programmes break down disciplinary silos, drawing on anthropology, history, philosophy, environmental studies, health sciences, archaeology, linguistics, and more.
• Field Embeddedness: Students are encouraged to conduct community-based research, working with local archives, oral histories, and living knowledge systems.
• Mentorship & Dialogue: Learning is guided by members of the Highland Fellowship, alongside visiting scholars from global institutions. Peer learning, critique, and long-form discussion are central to our approach.

Public Events and Scholarly Exchange

SAS coordinates major academic events throughout the year, including:

• The Ursula Graham Bower Lectures (formerly the Hutton and Highlander Lectures): Our premier annual public lecture series, showcasing leading voices in anthropology, history, and allied fields.
• Winter Research Colloquium: A platform for PGCertR students and invited scholars to present preliminary findings and foster collaborative dialogue.
• Conferences and Thematic Symposia: Including past events such as the Ekologos: Global Environmental Humanities Conference and the British Academy Effective Writing Workshops.

Work With Us

SAS is a space for both rooted learning and global exchange. Whether you’re a postgraduate student, university lecturer, project collaborator, or independent scholar, the School of Advanced Studies offers a space for thoughtful engagement with research and pedagogy.

To propose a training, seminar, or partnership, or to inquire about upcoming opportunities, please contact us at:
info@highlandinstitute.org