Luke Heslop trained in anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, earning a PhD in 2015, and was a Fellow at the London School of Economics prior to joining Brunel University as a Lecturer in Anthropology. He has worked for many years in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. His ethnographic work engages with the lived experience of macro-economic and political change and global challenges in emerging economies.
He is a Director for the Policy Research Institute of South Asia (PRISA), based in London, UK, working on issues concerning inequality, well-being, and access to services for diaspora communities in the UK. He is also co-Director of the Brunel South Asia Studies Research Group, a multidisciplinary research group based in West London, focusing, among other things, on the large South Asian population in the West London region.
Luke Heslop is the lead anthropological consultant for Dar al Handasah, with research work focusing predominantly in the Middle East. Additionally, he is the Producer and Co-Producer of The Migration Menu, a podcast series that explores migration stories from South Asia to the UK through food.
Caste discrimination or persecution, Climate-related issues, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Journalist persecution, Political persecution, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution
I have worked as an expert witness and authored a report on aposticy in the Maldives for an asylum case in the UK.
Heslop, L. and Lubna, H. (2024) 'Infrastructure, circulation, and ecology in the Maldives'. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History.