Jonathan Ratcliffe was recently awarded his PhD in Asian History from ANU for a thesis on the political history of the epic hero Geser among the Buryat Mongols during the 20th century. His PhD thesis, centred upon the history and reception of the cycles surrounding the hero Geser taken down from the Ekhirit-Bulagat Buryat uligershin (epic reciter) Manshut Imegenov in the early twentieth century. Jonathan’s academic interests include history, anthropology, mythology, philology, linguistics, epic narrative, folklore and philosophy. He has a bachelor degree with honours from La Trobe University in Philosophy and Religious studies and an MA from Monash University in Classics. In 2006 he studied at the National University of Mongolia for six months as part of its program for foreign students. In October 2019 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Inner Mongolia University in China.