Kate Crosby is a British scholar of TheravÃÂda Buddhism who is the Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Oxford. She is affiliated with the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Balliol College.
Crosby studied Sanskrit with PÃÂli at St HughâÂÂs College, Oxford (1986âÂÂ1989). She furthered her studies through the Michael Foster Memorial Scholarship at the University of Hamburg and the Commonwealth Scholarship at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka, followed by traditional Sanskrit study in Pune and Varanasi. She completed her DPhil at Oxford in 1999 with a thesis on medieval Sri Lankan PÃÂli literature.
Crosby has held academic positions at the universities of Edinburgh, Lancaster, Cardiff, SOAS London, and KingâÂÂs College London, and has held visiting professorships in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, and Cambodia. She currently leads the Numata Professorship at Oxford, teaching Buddhist Studies, PÃÂli, and Buddhist Sanskrit.
She also co-edits the international peer-reviewed journal Contemporary Buddhism. Her research spans textual analysis, TheravÃÂda history, meditation traditions, ethics, and intersections with humanitarian law.
Crosby is known for her work on diverse aspects of TheravÃÂda practice, particularly pre-modern and esoteric meditation traditions.
CrosbyâÂÂs scholarship has highlighted the historical presence of Southern Esoteric Buddhism, pre-modern esoteric meditation traditions across Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, integrating visualization and somatic techniques within the framework of TheravÃÂda Abhidhamma. She attributes their decline in part to colonial modernist influences, shifting temple authority, and war.