On August 20-25, 2017, the Department for the Study of Religion will be hosting the XVIIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), the largest and foremost academic gathering of Buddhist Studies scholars in the world, convened by DSR faculty Christoph Emmrich.
What makes this year’s Toronto conference extraordinary is that, for the first time in its 30-year history, the IABS Congress is held in Canada, – auspiciously coinciding with the sesquicentennial we have been celebrating in our country. This is an acknowledgment of the excellent international reputation of Canadian Buddhist Studies and of Buddhist Studies at UofT in particular.
Convening every three years since 1978, either in Asia, Europe or the Americas and celebrating the growth of Buddhist Studies as one of the most vibrant fields of research and teaching in the Humanities and the Social Sciences worldwide, this year the IABS Congress brings together about 500 delegates and roughly 400 papers.
The DSR’s hosting of the IABS Congress is also a very special event this year as the conference will be the official launch pad for The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto (http://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca), a newly established multi-million-dollar centre, housed at the Department for the Study of Religion. The Foundation and its UofT Centre are, together with the Fo Guang Shan Temple of Toronto, the leading sponsors of the Toronto IABS Congress.
For further information, please visit the conference website at http://www.iabs2017-uoft.ca. Online registration at http://www.iabs2017-uoft.ca/registration/ is open till August 19, on-site registration till August 20.