Nicholas Sims-Williams

Nicholas Sims-Williams is a distinguished scholar specializing in Iranian languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where he has spent his entire academic career following studies at Cambridge.

His research focuses equally on linguistic analysis of Middle Iranian languages and their Central Asian cultural context:

• Teaches seven Iranian languages: Avestan, Old Persian, Middle Persian, Parthian, Bactrian, Sogdian, and Khotanese, plus occasionally Syriac
• Specializes in Eastern Iran and Central Asia's linguistic, cultural and religious intersections

Major scholarly contributions include:

• Editions of Sogdian inscriptions from Northern Pakistan
• Documents in mixed Sogdian and Old Turkish from Chinese Xinjiang
• Bactrian documents from Northern Afghanistan
• Current work cataloging Christian Sogdian and New Persian manuscript fragments in the Berlin Turfan collection

His work bridges linguistic scholarship with historical and cultural analysis of Central Asia's rich textual heritage.