SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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What is SASNET?

After an initiative by the Foreign Ministry in 1998, Sida SAREC invited suggestions from Uppsala, Göteborg and Lund universities on how to set up a Swedish centre/network for South Asian studies in June 1999.
In May 2000, Lund was given the responsibility, with a planning period lasting for the remaining part of that year, and funding for 2001-2002. An advisory conference was organised in Lund in October 2000, with participation of Swedish senior researchers and a fair representation of PhD candidates and concerned government officials.
SASNET was formally started in January 2001.

SASNET is a national network for research, education, and information about South Asia, based at Lund University. The aim is to encourage and promote an open and dynamic networking process, in which Swedish researchers co-operate with researchers in South Asia and globally.

The network is open to all sciences. Priority is given to co-operation between disciplines and across faculties, as well as institutions in the Nordic countries and in South Asia. The basic idea is that South Asian studies will be most fruitfully pursued in co-operation between researchers, working in different institutions with a solid base in their mother disciplines.

Till 31 December 2009, the network was financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and by Lund University. From 2010, SASNET is entirely funded by Lund University.