The University of Virginia has been selected to host the 2022 International Seminar of Young Tibetologists. This will be the first time an American university has been selected to host this prestigious week-long conference.
UVA's Tibetan and Buddhist Studies programs are among the largest in the world outside of Asia. In 2000, David Germano, director of Tibet Center founded the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, which has become a major digital initiative building collaborative knowledge on the region.
He is also the founding director of the Tibet Center in the College of Arts & Sciences, which is home to a large exchange program with Tibetans in Tibet, as well extensive educational, research, and community initiatives on the ground in China and Bhutan.
“It will be amazing to have young scholars focused on Tibet from all across the world gathered together on Grounds to share scholarship and build community,” said Germano, Executive Director of Contemplative Sciences Center. “It is also a lovely recognition of the half a century of flourishing of Tibetan Studies at UVA that has touched so many lives and communities, not to mention books….”
From July 31 – July 6th 2022, more than 100 scholars from around the world will be coming to Charlottesville to attend the conference.
An UVA alumni group is working to arrange the details for the conference. “Through hosting this conference, the alumni are excited to showcase how University of Virginia—which remains for many of us our most beloved academic home—is at the global forefront of Tibetan Studies' research," said Natasha Mikles, secretary-general of the group. "We look forward to highlighting not only the work being done on Grounds, but also the University’s ties to its local and national communities through our work with Charlottesville’s large Tibetan population and various D.C.-based institutions such as the Library of Congress."
The funding for the conference will be provided by the Jefferson Trust, the Khyentse Foundation, the Tsadra Foundation, and the International Association of Tibetan Studies.
