Ester Bianchi holds a Ph.D. in ‘Indian and East-Asian Civilization’ from the University of Venice (co-tutorial Ph.D. received from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses of Paris). She is associate professor of Chinese Religions and Philosophy and of Society and Culture of China, coordinator of the Double Degree in “World Religions and Philosophy” (with the Department of Religious Studies of Fu-Jen University, Taipei), and member of the research group “Culture, Languages, Practices (CLIPRA) at the Philosophy Department of the University of Perugia (Italy)....
Osmund Bopearachchi is the Fall 2023 Numata Visiting Professor in Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Director of Research of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (C.N.R.S.-E.N.S. Paris) and former Visiting Professor and Member of the Doctoral School VI of the Paris IV-Sorbonne University.
Former Adjunct Professor of Central and South Asian Art, Archaeology, and Numismatics
Osmund Bopearachchi is a Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (C.N.R.S), 'Hellenism and Oriental Civilisations' program (UMR 8546/5), and teaches Central Asian and South-Asian archaeology and art history at the Paris IV-Sorbonne University. Prof. Bopearachchi holds a B.A. from the University of Kelaniya (Sri Lanka), a B.A. honors, (M.A.), M.Phil., Ph.D. from the Paris I-Sorbonne University, and a Higher Doctorate (Habilitation) from the Paris IV-Sorbonne University. He has published nine books, edited six books and published 130 articles in...
Nancy Lin (M.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., UC Berkeley) specializes in Buddhist traditions of Tibet and the Himalaya. Her research focuses on courtly Buddhist culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially the production of poetry, visual objects, and personae. Her current questions largely cluster around the dynamics of worldliness and renunciation, aesthetics and ethos, and wisdom and eloquence. Other interests include rebirth lineages and narratives, Tibetan engagement with Indic Buddhist and literary traditions, and cross-cultural interactions with Inner Asia...
Jan Nattier did her undergraduate work in comparative religion (specializing in Buddhism) at Indiana University, where she also began graduate training in the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies. She completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University under the Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies (specializing in classical Mongolian and Tibetan). She has taught at Macalester College, the University of Hawaii, Stanford University, Indiana University, and the University of Tokyo, in addition to serving as a member of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology (Soka...
Matteo Sgorbati received a B.A. in philosophy (2016) and a M.A. in anthropology (2018) from University of Perugia. He further expanded his expertise with a double M.A. degree in world religions and philosophy (2020) at University of Perugia and Fu Jen Catholic University. Currently, he is a joint doctoral student at University of Perugia and Ghent University, researching on the reception of Western psychology among Buddhists during the early Republican era in China. He is a visiting student researcher for the fall semester 2023.
Roy Tzohar is the 2023 Numata Visiting Professor in Buddhist Philosophy and specializes in the history of philosophy with a focus on Buddhist and Brahmanical philosophical traditions in India. He is a an associate professor in the East and South Asian Studies Department at Tel Aviv University.
