Place of birth: Perth, Western Australia

Education: MA, University of Western Australia 1966; DPhil, University of Oxford 1969

Career: Ian Copland is a Professor of History in the School of Historical Studies, an Associate of the Monash Asia Institute and a former Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies, Monash University. His research interests are on modern India and Pakistan and on comparative colonialism. The focus of his current work is on religion and governance in colonial India with particular reference to the evolution and antecedents of ‘Indian secularism’. He is editor of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (see url below).

Honours and awards: Commonwealth Centenary Medal for services to Asian Studies

Publications include: The Burden of Empire: Perspectives On Imperialism and Colonialism 1990, The Princes of India in the End-Game of Empire, 1917–1947 1997, India 1885–1947: The Unmaking of an Empire 2001, State, Community and Neighbourhood in Princely North India 2005; numerous articles in professional journals on British Imperial history, in particular the history of indirect rule in the 19th and 20th centuries and British policy towards Christian missions, on Hindu-Muslim communalism, and on other topics to do with modern South Asian history

Contact details: Address: School of Historical Studies, 6th Floor, Menzies Building, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia; Tel: +61 (0)3 9905-2201; Fax: +61 (0)3 9905-2210; Email: ian.copland@arts.monash.edu.au ; Website: http://arts.monash.edu.au/historical-studies/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/00856401.asp/ .