Specialization: Contemporary Japanese Buddhism, ethnographic filmmaking

Tim’s research interests focus on modern and contemporary Japanese Buddhism, and more broadly deal with the interplay of religious practice and modern social change. He holds a PhD in religious studies (11/2017) and an MA in Japanese studies (07/2009) from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Following an appointment as the Associated Editor of publications at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture from 2018 to 2022, Tim worked as a Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester in the UK. In 2025, he moved back to Japan to start his current employment as an assistant professor at Kanazawa University.
Tim is currently exploring religious responses to the 2024 Noto earthquake. He previously conducted ethnographic fieldwork on Zen prayer monasteries, Buddhist responses to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, and a broad range of other topics.

External Links to Research Activities: researchmap, youtube