University education
The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. October 1982 - July 1986. First class honours degree in Arabic and Amharic.
The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. April 1994. PhD, title of dissertation: Aspects of Somali Phonology.

Career record
January 1990 - December 1991: Parker Training Fellow in Somali and Amharic in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa, SOAS, University of London.
1992-2008: Lecturer in Somali and Amharic in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa, SOAS, University of London.
2008-April 2020: Senior Lecturer in Somali and Amharic in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, SOAS, University of London.
April 2020-present: Professore associato at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Somali language and literature.

Research
The main focus of Orwin’s research is the use of language in Somali poetry. He has written on metre and alliteration in Somali poetry including how they contribute to the affective aesthetics of the poetry. Some particularly important contributions are on the role of consonants in metre in Somali, the practical stylistic analyses of individual poems and a paper on influence from Arabic in Somali metre. He has a strong interest in the literary translation of poetry and has published translations of Somali poems including some in collaboration with famous poets in the UK. He has an interest in music and, with colleagues from Kings College London and elsewhere, was involved in looking at the theoretical relationship between music and language in the Dynamic Syntax framework.

Current research includes further scholarly investigation of Somali poetry including the conceptualization of different types of poetry and how these may relate to notions of lyric, further work on metre in Somali poetry, including looking at Arabic influence. He has long term plans to publish more Somali poetry in translation of Raage Ugaas Warfaa, Qamaan Bulxan, Cilmi Boodheri, Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’ and Xasan Daahir Ismaaciil ‘Weedhsame’ which will entail writing scholarly works on them also.

Teaching
Orwin has taught Somali language at all levels from beginner to advanced at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and also used to teach Amharic. He has taught Somali literature in Somali and also through translations to students who don’t know the language. He has contributed to courses on comparative literature, language in Africa, culture in Africa, Islamic religious culture in Africa and African-language literatures. He has also contributed to teaching in translation courses on translating poetry at SOAS and UCL. He has taught Somali outside the university environment to government employees and NGO employees including advanced one-to-one courses.

Postgraduate supervision
Orwin has supervised students on topics related to his research more widely, these include theses with the titles ‘The form and meaning of Otjiherero praises’; ‘Benadiri People of Somalia, with Particular Reference to the Reer Hamar of Mogadishu’; ‘Between Continuity and Innovation: The Transitional Nature of Post-Independence Somali Poetry and Drama, 1960s-the Present’. He has experience examining PhD dissertations in the UK and in Italy.

Administrative duties at SOAS
1994-1997 and 2000-2004: Departmental Undergraduate Tutor.
1995-1998: Chair of the Library Regional Advisory Sub-Committee for Africa.
1995-1998: Member of the Library Committee. (Committee responsible for developing policy relating to the Library of the School.)
1999-2001: Member of Academic Board.
2004-2006 Departmental Postgraduate Tutor (Responsible for overseeing the progress of PG research students in the Department.)
2005-2007: Member of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures Learning and Teaching Committee.
2006-2009: Undergraduate Admissions Tutor (Responsible for overseeing admissions to the deparment.)
2007-2009: Member of Faculty Board.
2009-2011: Member of the Special Assessment Panel of SOAS.
2010-11: Convenor of the MA African Studies.
2010-2013: Deputy Chair of the School Board of Examiners for Undergraduate Qualifications.
2011-2014: Head of the Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa.
2016-April 2020: Chair of the Sub-board Chair of Examiners for Languages and Cultures of Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia at SOAS.

Wider academic roles
1993-97: Editor of African Languages and Cultures. During this time he also oversaw the transition of the journal to the Journal of African Cultural Studies.
1996-2011: Member of the Editorial Board of the Bulletin of SOAS: responsible for advising on and dealing with submissions to the Bulletin on Africa.
2010-2012: Honorary Secretary of the Philological Society
2010-2012: member of the UK University Council for General and Applied Linguistics
2008-2010: member of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) Special Interest Group for Literature and Culture.
2008-2010: member of the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) Special Interest Group for Languages of the Wider World (formerly Less Widely Taught Languages).
Member of the Advisory Board of Rassegna di Studi Etiopici.
Member of the International Advisory Board of Bildhaan: An International Journal of So- mali Studies.
Member of the International Advisory Board of Journal of Somali Studies.


Conference and workshop presentations
He has given papers at many conferences, workshops. Some recent examples are:

Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies Before Colonialism, SOAS, University of London June 17 2016: ‘Is there any Arabic influence on metre in Somali religious poetry?’

Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association at UCLA March 31 2018: ‘The Personal in the Nineteenth-Century Somali Poetry of Raage Ugaas Warfaa’.

Somali Studies International Association Congress in Hargeysa July 2018: ‘The personal in ‘Alleyl dumay’ by Raage Ugaas Warfaa (ca.1810-?)’. He was also part of the organizing committee of this conference.

Journeé d’Etudes Somalies: Linguistique et Géographie. Laboratoire de Linguistique de Nantes, Université de Nantes, December 2018: ‘Performance and Pitch Accent in Somali Poetry’.

He co-organized and presented at the first symposium dedicated to translating poetry from Asia, Africa and Central and South America with the Poetry Translation Centre in September 2019 in London.

Workshop on Somali Grammar at the University of Gothenburg, October 2019: ‘The performance of Somali poetry: patterns in pitch.’

Poetics of Place and Displacement: Poetry Reading and Discussion Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge organised by Auralities Research Network. 11 November 2020: ‘Reading and discussion of ’Galiilyo’ by Xasan Daahir Ismaaciil ’Weedhsame’’. Online

Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics: Bridging the Red Sea Rift International Research Network Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics Kick-off Meeting November 12-13 2020, University of Nantes: ‘Crafting Somali Language: Systematic and Artistic Use of Linguistic Sounds in Somali Poetry and Performance’. Online

Invited lectures and similar
He has given many lectures in the Somali Horn particularly in Hargeysa. He was awarded a certificate of achievement by the Hargeisa Youth Development Association for sharing his work with youth groups in Hargeysa. He has also given invitation lectures in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. He has been interviewed many times for Somali radio and television programmes and has taken part in cultural discussion programmes.
Recent invited lectures include:
June 7 2016 Invited lecture on ‘Translating Somali Poetry: Il suo metodo, e il suo lavoro con il Poetry Translation Centre’ at University of Naples “L’Orientale”.
May 5 2017: Invited lecture on Somali poetry at the House of Literature in Oslo. Part of A Nation of Poets: Somalisk Litterature, Poesi og Identitet. He also gave a reading of his translation of Has Love Been Blood-Written by Hadraawi.
October 2 2017, International Translation Day at the British Library: co-led a workshop with Clare Pollard and the Poetry Translation Centre on a poem by Caasha Luul Maxamuud Yuusuf.

External body membership
Member of the Philological Society
Member of the Anglo-Somali Society and has been a member of the Council of the Society on two occasions
Member of the Società Italiana di Glottologia

External activities
He used to work with the BBC Somali Section of the World Service helping with language matters and making translations for the management. He takes an active part most years in events held as part of the Hargeysa International Book Fair and also the Somali Week Festival in London. He has been actively involved with the Poetry Translation Centre since it was founded in 2004 and was part of the team involved in two World Poets’ Tours organized by the Centre which brought over a famous Somali poet, Mohamed Hashi Dhama ‘Gaarriye’ and has taken part in many readings and meetings such as recently the Ilkley Literature Festival 15 October 2017 with Daljit Nagra: ’Catastrophe/Galiilyo: Somali poet ’Weedhsame’ and on 9 August 2019 Opening Gala of the Migration and Diaspora Literature Festival organized by Migration Collective and held at the National Maritime Museum, London reading translations of Weedhsame’s ’Galiilyo’ and ’Xabagbarsheed’.