Success of the BuddhistRoad Project: Establishment of new research field of Central Asian Buddhism

After six and a half years of fruitful project work, the ERC-funded project BuddhistRoad has officially come to an end. However, our work and research agenda continues: the BuddhistRoad Guest Lectures will proceed in the autumn and the BuddhistRoad Paper series will continue as an established publication venue for research on Central Asian religions. We managed to establish Central Asian Buddhism as a research field.

The past few years were a remarkable journey for us, with unexpected challenges and achievements. The success of the project was only possible due to the extraordinary teamwork of the academic community across various research fields and the great support from many helping hands in the background. Our endeavours as a team would not have been possible without the help and support of each and every one who contributed to the BuddhistRoad Project.

What we achieved together are:

• the creation of an international network of more than 80 scholars;
• 3 international conferences with 23 lectures by external scholars;
• 72 lectures by team members;
• 38 BuddhistRoad Guest Lectures;
• the open access publication of
  • 2 books (+4 further books expected in 2024-25),
  • 34 BuddhistRoad Papers (+ at least 15 expected in 2024-25),
  • 22 articles in other publication venues,
  • research tools (including database, list of unified spellings),
  • visual aids (3 maps, 3-5 further maps expected in 2024-25).

Thank you so much for travelling with us on the BuddhistRoad!

The BuddhistRoad Team