since 2015 : Research Group Leader ERC Starting Grant Project Remoteness & Connectivity: Highland Asia in the World
2013-2015 : Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
2011–2013 : Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
2010–2012 : Postdoctoral Associate in the School of Anthropology, University of Oxford.
2006–2010 : Doctoral studies on a Clarendon scholarship at the University of Oxford, Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology, under the supervision of Charles Ramble and Elisabeth Hsu. Thesis: Manufacturing Tibetan Medicine. The Creation of an Industry and the Moral Economy of Tibetanness, assessed by Marcus Banks and Mona Schrempf.
2007–2008 : Field research on the industrialisation of Tibetan medicine in the People’s Republic of China and transnational trade in medicinal plants.
2005–2006 : Lecturer for Visual Anthropology at the University of Zurich, assistant to Prof. M. Oppitz. Responsibilities: teaching an introductory course in visual anthropology and a seminar on making ethnographic films, supervising student film projects, contributing to the exhibition “Trommeln der Schamanen” (2007-2008).
1998–2005 : Studies of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Zurich, Lic. phil (summa cum laude).
2003–2005 : Masters thesis, including feature length documentary film “Journeys with Tibetan medicine”.
2003 : Field research in Buryatia on the history of Tibetan medicine in Russia.
2002 : Exploratory field research in Northern India on Tibetan medicine and ritual music (five months).
2000 : Field research on ageing in Zurich’s red light district, documentary film “Mosimann”.
1994–1995 : Theatre studies at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
2015 : ERC-Starting Grant, Project Remoteness and Connectivity: Highland Asia in the World, 5 years of funding for a team of 4 people, starting in May 2015.
2013 : Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship, FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, Project NEIGHBOURING – 298595, 2 years of funding
2012 : Research Grant, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
2011 : ARI Academic Event Funding, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; used to organise international workshop “The Art of Neighbouring”, 1–2 March 2012
2011 : Research Fellowship for Prospective Researchers, Swiss National Science Foundation (18 months).
2010 : Writing-up bursary, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnology, Oxford.
2009 : Rajiv Gandhi Foundation’s Travelling Scholarship to India.
2008 : Recipient of Zurich University’s research funding (tenable for last phase of research and writing up 2009 - 2010).
2007 : SASS Language Training Grant for the study of Tibetan at Tibet University in Lhasa; Society for South Asian Studies (UK).
2006 : Clarendon Scholarship; University of Oxford (3-years full funding).
2006 : ORS Award (Overseas Research Students Award Scheme, UK Government, 3-years)
1991–1992 : Stained Glass Design, Atelier Tre Fiori, Saint Gallen (internship, six months).
1992–1993 : Gardener, social worker with mentally handicapped persons in “Aigues Vertes”, Camphill Community near Geneva (6 months).
1993 : Carpenter and joiner, social worker with mentally handicapped persons in Kreuzlingen (4 months).
1994–1995 : Freelance designer (education materials, poster & flyer design).
1994–1998 : Actor, writer and stage director, and dramatic adviser in various theatre projects (selection of works see below).
1998 - 2003 : Assistant editor of the Journal “Panorama”, project administrator, “Berufsbildungsprojekte Wettstein GmbH” (part time).
2013 : Consultant for the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; responsible for acquisition, outline, and organisation of photographic work and video footage for the 2014 exhibition “Bodies in Balance”.
1996 : Director/writer: “Cyberfaust”, theatre play, on tour in Switzerland, invited to the Landis & Gyr Kulturfestival.
1997 : Director: “Versuch mit der Dauer der Liebe”, theatre play, on tour in Switzerland (St. Gallen, Frauenfeld, and Zurich).
2000 : Cinematographer/co-director/writer: “Mosimann”. Documentary film (74 min) on ageing in Zurich’s red light district.
2005 : Director & editor: “Journeys with Tibetan Medicine”. Documentary (76 min). Cinema release in Switzerland, invited to several international festivals (see www.anyma.ch/journeys).
since 2012 : The Other Image – Visual Ethnography: www.theotherimage.com.
Mar 2016 : “A Spectacle of Maps: Cartographic hopes and anxieties in the Pamirs”, paper presented at AAG San Francisco in the panel “Cartographic Anxieties”, organised by Franck Billé, 2 April 2016.
Feb 2016 : “Presence without Encounters: Pending Futures and the Chinese (non)engagement in the Tajik Pamirs”, paper presented at the international workshop “Encounters after the Soviet Collapse: Chinese Presence in the Former Soviet Union Border Zone”, Leiden, The Netherlands, 18 February 2016.
Jan 2016 : “Die Kreation einer Industrie”, Kolloquium zur Medizin- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 18 January 2016.
Oct 2015 : “Neighbouring China: What does China’s rise mean for people living along its borders?”, Paper presented at the Asia Center, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex date, 21 October 2015.
Sep 2015 : “Tibetan medicine at the juncture of modernism, neoliberalism, and heritage making”, paper presented at the Workshop Governance & Circulation of Asian Medicines, 22-23 September, Asia Research Institute, National Univesity of Singapore.
Mar 2015 : “Neue Strassen, alte Wegen: Händler, Yaks, und chinesische Lastwagen im Himalaja”, Public lecture at the Songtsen House, Zurich, Switzerland, 13 March 2015.
Jan 2015 : “Remoteness and Connectivity in the Himalayas”, International Guest Lecture at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Social Anthropology, Vienna, 29 January 2015.
Dec 2014 : “The Limi Road: Reconnecting a Periphery”, presented at the 4th Conference of the Asian Borderlands Research Network Activated Borders – Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships, 8–10 December 2014, Hong Kong.
May 2014 : “The Role of Commerce in Himalayan Frontier Communities: Preliminary Reflections on the Nexus of Remoteness and Connectivity”, presented at the conference “Commerce And Communities: Social Status and the Exchange of Goods in Tibetan Societies”, Bonn 5–6 May 2014.
Dec 2013 : “Anthropology’s Peripheries – cosmopolitans, pathways, and the second life of development at the edge of disciplines and nation-states”, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Stockholm, 9 December.
Nov 2013 : “Die Peripherie der Ethnologie. Austausch und Rückzug am Rande des Nationalstaats”, Oberseminar, Institut für Ethnologie, LMU München, 4 November.
Sep 2013 : “Himalayan Pathways and Central Asian roads: Remoteness and Connectivity in Asian Mountain Societies”, Anthropology Club, American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, 20 September.
Jun 2013 : “Remote Pathways: The Non-Peripheries at the Edge of Nation-States” (2nd itiration), Crossroads Asia workshop “Tracing Connections – Explorations of Spaces and Places in Asian Multilocalities”, ZELF, FU Berlin, 20–21 June.
Apr 2013 : “Remote Pathways: The Non-Peripheries at the Edge of Nation-States”, cluster seminar talk, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 25 April.
Oct 2012 : “In and out of Walung: The History of a Himalayan Pathway in Eastern Nepal”, Connections, Corridors, and Communities: 3rd Conference of the Asian Borderland Research Network, 11–13 October, Singapore.
Aug 2012 : “‘Once We Were in the Centre’: Trade and the Aftermath of Development in Humla, Nepal”, paper presented at the Berkeley Summer Research Institute, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Jun 2012 : “New Roads, Old Trades: Trans-Himalayan connections”, St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia, University of St.Gallen, Singapore (organised by Swiss Association Singapore).
May 2012 : “Neighbouring China in Northern Nepal”, School of Anthropology and Musuem Ethnology, University of Oxford, 25 May 2012.
Mar 2012 : “Remote Cosmopolitans: Rethinking Trans-Himalayan Trade”, paper presented at the international workshop The Art of Neighbouring, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, 1 March 2012.
2016 : Panel convenor (with Alessandro Rippa): “Socialist New Villages in China: Building what kind of future?”, Panel at AAS-in-Asia Conference 2016, Kyoto, 21–24 June 2016. : Co-Organiser (with Philipp Schorch): “Materials, Environments, and Curatorial Interventions”, Second workshop of the research initiative “Connecting Materialities / Material Connectivities”, 29 July 2015, LMU Munich.
: Panel convenor (with Ruben Andersson): “The Return of Remoteness: Insecurity, Isolation and Connectivity in the New World Disorder”, EASA, Milano, 20–23 July 2016.
2015 : Organiser (with Philipp Schorch): “Material, Experience, and the Mobile”, First workshop of the research initiative “Connecting Materialities / Material Connectivities”, 28 November 2015, LMU Munich.
2014 : Panel convenor (with Kabir Heimsath): “What is a Connection? Pathways and Intersections in Highland Asia” at the 4th Conference of the Asian Borderlands Research Network Activated Borders – Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships, 8–10 December 2014, Hong Kong.
2012 : Main convenor: The Art of Neighbouring: Old Dynamics and New Connections along the PRC’s borders. International academic workshop, 1–2 March 2012, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
2012 : Local co-organiser: Connections, Corridors, and Communities: 3rd Conference of the Asian Borderland Research Network, 11–13 October, Singapore. Organised by IIAS, Leiden, and hosted by Asia Research Institute and Institute for Southeast Asian Studies.
2012 : Panel convenor: “Neverlands of Becoming: Fortune, Enterprise and Refuge in the Frontiers” at Connections, Corridors, and Communities: 3rd Conference of the Asian Borderland Research Network, 11–13 October, Singapore.