News and Events

News and events related to Edinburgh Buddhist Studies.

Events for the 2025-2026 academic year

We have some exciting events planned for the coming academic year, when we will also be welcoming our first cohort of masters students to ECBS. Highlights include:

  • A workshop on humour in premodern Buddhist literature
  • An interview with Prof Vanessa Sasson as part of the New College Festival of Books and Belief
  • Our regular works-in-progress workshop
  • Our annual Khyentse Lecture in Buddhist Studies
  • A "Discovery Day" for school pupils

Check back later for details, or contact buddhist.studies@ed.ac.uk to be added to our mailing list or membership.

Past events

To see details and pictures from our past events click below.

News

In autumn 2025, people from outside the University will be able to join students in learning Classical Tibetan, in a new course taught by Dr Upali Sraman. The format involves a mix of live classes (hybrid enabled) and online self-paced learning, making it possible for both locals and those from further afield to give this fascinating language a go. 


We're delighted to announce that we have been granted the status of a University of Edinburgh Research Centre. As such, we will be changing our name to the Edinburgh Centre for Buddhist Studies (ECBS) and continuing to build upon our events programme and other activities.


Comprising of a fee-waiver by the University of Edinburgh and a stipend from the Khyentse Foundation, one lucky student will be awarded this scholarship for a full-time on-campus PhD starting September 2025.

See further details on the scholarship webpage.


EBS will launch a new taught Masters programme in Buddhist Studies in September 2025. Applications open in the autumn for this one-year (two-year part-time) on-campus programme. For details, including entry requirements and how to apply, see the Programme Webpage. 


August 2023

We are delighted to write with the good news that EBS has made an exciting hire for the Buddhist Languages & Cultures post.

This position has been made possible through generous funding from the Khyentse Foundation and Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. We had an outstanding pool of candidates, and we are pleased to welcome Upali Sraman to our team. Upali recently completed his PhD in Religion at Emory University and is an ordained Buddhist priest with an MDiv from Harvard. He brings a wealth of expertise to our program and will be teaching Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan, in addition to offering courses on his dissertation research on bodily practice within the Vinaya. We look forward to having him join us and make significant contributions to our community.


Thanks to a new grant from the Foundation starting in January 2022, we have been able to appoint a dedicated schools outreach officer for EBS, Dr Paul Fuller. Alongside his role teaching in the School of Divinity, Dr Fuller will work one day per week on schools outreach, including school visits, resource creation, and the organisation of our annual Discovery Day for pupils.


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