Sujit Sivasundaram is a British Sri Lankan historian and academic. He is currently professor of world history at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Early life

Sivasundaram was born in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He is the great grand son of Lawrie Muthu Krishna, editor of the ''Ceylonese'' newspaper and founder of The Polytechnic

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

. He is the grandson of Mano Muthu Krishna-Candappa, journalist and advocate for women's advancement in Sri Lanka. Sivasundaram was educated at

S. Thomas' Preparatory School S. Thomas' Preparatory School (abbreviated as STPS) is a private, Anglican, multi-ethnic, primary and secondary day school for boys aged 5 to 16 years, located in Kollupitiya in the Colombo District of the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The scho ...

and the Colombo International School. After school he joined the

on a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

in 1994 to study

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

but later switched to history and graduated in 1997 with a BA

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

. He also has

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

(1998) and PhD (2001) degrees from Cambridge.

Career

Sivasundaram joined

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

in 2001 as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

before becoming a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

. He has been a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

and a visiting senior research fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. He taught south Asian and imperial history at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

between 2008 and 2010. Between 2015 and 2017 he was Sackler Caird Fellow at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

, Greenwich. He was director of the Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge and director of graduate studies at the Faculty of History, Cambridge. He is currently a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

and professor of world history at Gonville and Caius College. He supervises MPhil and PhD students of world and imperial history. Sivasundaram was awarded the

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize schem ...

for medieval, early modern and modern history in 2012. He was a fellow and council member of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

(RHS). He delivered the 2019 RHS Prothero Lecture. He was co-editor of ''

The Historical Journal ''The Historical Journal'', formerly known as ''The Cambridge Historical Journal'', is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press. It publishes approximately thirty-five articles per year on all aspects of British, Eu ...

'' and was associate editor of the ''

Journal of British Studies The publication of thNorth American Conference on British Studies ''The Journal of British Studies'' is an academic journal aimed at scholars of British culture from the Middle Ages through the present. The journal was co-founded in 1961 by Geor ...

''. He is on the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...

s of ''History Australia'', ''

The International History Review ''The International History Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of international relations and the history of international thought published by Routledge. It was established in 1978 by Edward Ingram, Gordon Martel an ...

'' and ''

Medical History The medical history, case history, or anamnesis (from Greek: ἀνά, ''aná'', "open", and μνήσις, ''mnesis'', "memory") of a patient is information gained by a physician by asking specific questions, either to the patient or to other peo ...

''. He won the 2021 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for ''Waves Across the South''. His prize citation noted that the book was 'a riot of ingenuity, a truly powerful and new history of revolutions and empires, re-imagined through the environmental lens of the sea.' He is a member of the Editorial Board for '' Past & Present''.https://pastandpresent.org.uk/about-us/

Works

Sivasundaram has written numerous books and articles including: * ''Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795-1850'' (2005,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

; ) * ''Science, Race and Imperialism'' ed. with Marwa Elshakry in ''Victorian Science and Literature'', Vol 6, eds. Bernard Lightman and Gowan Dawson (2012,

Pickering & Chatto Publishers Pickering & Chatto is an imprint of Routledge which publishes in the humanities and social sciences, specializing in monographs, critical editions (works, diaries, correspondence) and thematic source collections. Pickering & Chatto's academic monog ...

; ) * ''Islanded: Britain, Sri Lanka and the Bounds of an Indian Ocean Colony'' (2013,

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

; 2014,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Delhi; ) * ''Oceanic Histories'' ed. with David Armitage and Alison Bashford (2017, Cambridge University Press; ) * ''Waves Across the South'' (2020,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

) * 'Materialities in the Making of World Histories: South Asia and the South Pacific' in ''Oxford Handbook of History and Material Culture: World Perspectives'' ed. by Ivan Gaskell and Sarah Carter

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivasundaram, Sujit Academics of the London School of Economics Alumni of Colombo International School Alumni of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya Alumni of the University of Cambridge Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Living people Academic staff of the National University of Singapore People from Colombo Sri Lankan Chetty academics 21st-century Sri Lankan historians Academic staff of the University of Sydney 1976 births Sri Lankan Chetty historians