Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies
The esteemed Bhutanese lama, filmmaker, and author Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche created the Khyentse Foundation, a non-profit organization, and recently declared that Nils Martin from the East Asian Civilizations Research Centre (CRCAO) in Paris has been given the Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies for Europe.
Martin’s dissertation, The Wanla Group of Monuments: 14th-Century Tibetan Buddhist Murals in Ladakh, which was completed at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris and presented in March 2022, is a remarkable addition to the art and Buddhist history of the Western Himalayas.
Khyentse Foundation said in an announcement shared with BDG:
“It further provides a model of interdisciplinary research on painted monuments, combining an excellent command of iconography and stylistic conventions with archaeometric analysis, epigraphy, and a firsthand assessment of literary sources in classical Tibetan. As such, it represents an outstanding contribution to Buddhist studies.”
The Khyentse Foundation offers a $8,000 prize for outstanding PhD dissertations in Buddhist Studies that have been submitted in the past two years. To be eligible, the dissertation must demonstrate original research and make a significant contribution to the field of study or Buddhist scriptures. The award is given to scholars in Asia and Europe on alternating years.
