The Award

The Bayly Prize is awarded for a distinguished thesis in an Asian subject falling within the scope of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society or the Journal of Modern Asian Studies. The award winner will be presented with a prize of £2,500.

Eligibility

The thesis must have been examined and approved for the PhD degree at a British University in 2025. The date of the final approval letter must fall between 1st January and 31st December 2025.

Nominations for the 2026 award are now open

Please download and complete the application form BAYLY-PRIZE-APPLICATION-FORM-2026, and return by email with a PDF of your thesis and a certificate of the award of the PhD degree to the Director, Alison Ohta, ao@royalasiaticsociety.org by Monday 28th September 2026.

Supervisors may nominate by name alone, but this must be followed by a direct application by the graduate by the closing date of Monday 28th September 2026, and two references will still be required by the same date.

The prizewinner will be announced in 2027, and will be offered the opportunity to publish their work as a Royal Asiatic Society monograph. Other finalists will be eligible for consideration for an award of the Royal Asiatic Society’s Universities’ Prize Essay, and their work may be considered for publication by the RAS. For all enquiries, please email the Director, Alison Ohta, at ao@royalasiaticsociety.org.

Prize Panel

The Prize Panel is composed of Prof. Benjamin Hopkins (The George Washington University), Prof. Nile Green (UCLA), Prof Magnus Marsden (University of Sussex), Prof. Jagjeet Lally (University College London) and Prof. Susan Whitfield (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia).

About the Prize

The Prize was instigated in 2018 by friends and colleagues of the late Professor Sir Christopher Bayly FBA to mark his outstanding contribution to the study of world history and that of Asia in particular. The inaugural award was made in 2018.

The Bayly Prize Fund Appeal

The Appeal for the Bayly Prize Fund remains open to enable the Prize to be put on a sustainable long-term footing. Contributions via PayPal can be made through the Support Us page. If you would prefer to download and print out hard copies of the donation forms, please click on the appropriate form below.

Bayly Prize Supporter Form – Bankers order regular payment
Bayly Prize Supporter Form – Single donation – cheque

The Society would like to recognise and give thanks to the following for their generous donations to the Bayly Prize Fund.