Stephen A. Murphy is Pratapaditya Pal Senior Lecturer in Curating and Museology of Asian Art at SOAS, University of London. Prior to this he was Senior Curator for Southeast Asia at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. He holds a PhD from the Department of History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS. He specializes in the art and archaeology of early Buddhism and Hinduism in Southeast Asia with a focus on Thailand and Laos. He has a particular interest in the 7th to 9th centuries CE and looks at connections between Southeast Asian cultures and the wider world of Tang China, India and beyond. His museological focus engages with issues surrounding colonialism and repatriation in Southeast Asia. He is intimately familiar with the archaeological contexts of material illicitly trafficked from Thailand and subject to restitution claims such as the Plai Bat II/Prakhon Chai hoard. His forthcoming manuscript with NUS Press Buddhist Landscapes: Art and Archaeology of the Khorat Plateau, 7th to 11th Centuries situates this material within its wider regional and cultural context.  

Stephen is Co-Investigator for Circumambulating Objects: on Paradigms of Restitution of Southeast Asian Hindu-Buddhist Art (CO-OP). Object Restitution in Southeast Asia has by and large taken place within the confines of the nation state. However, many of the issues are transnational in nature. He sees the project as a unique opportunity to bring together the wide-ranging expertise that has developed both in-region and internationally. It aims to create a space for dialogue, debate, and the building of collaborative frameworks to move the concepts and processes of restitution forward.