Dr. Erica Baffelli

Biography

Erica Baffelli holds a PhD in East Asian Studies from Ca’ Foscari University, Venice. She has been a visiting researcher at Hosei University in Tokyo and served as a post-doctoral research fellow funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Since arriving at the University of Manchester in 2013, Baffelli has also worked at the University of Otago in New Zealand as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions. She has held directorial positions and was involved in training postgraduate students in the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership. Her research focuses on religion in contemporary Japan, particularly examining religious minorities, media technology, and emotions. Baffelli’s recent projects include a Leverhulme Research Project on Buddhist communities and an AHRC-ESRC UK-Japan grant exploring lived religion and migration. She has contributed to various scholarly publications on Japanese religions and has expertise in related areas such as Buddhism and new religious movements.

Research Interests

Experience