Prof. Dr. Lewis Doney

Lewis Doney's current research focus is on the pre-modern social status, daily lived experience and self-identity of Tibetans and those with whom Tibetans interacted within the wider Central Asian milieu.

Firstly, this means describing people on the borders of the Tibetan Empire (c. 600–850 CE), their relations with ruling forces and attempts to work with or mitigate asymmetric dependency in Buddhist scriptoria in Dunhuang on the periphery of that empire.

Secondly, he investigates the later cultural effects of Buddhist literary depictions of the imperial period thoughout the Tibetan plateau and Himalayan regions, showing through narratological
methods applied to in Buddhist histories and biographies especially the beginnings of the
re-envisioning of that empire as a source of new religious values and social norms.

2011
PhD Straight Pass (no corrections): Study of Religions, SOAS, London. Thesis: Transforming Tibetan Kingship: The Portrayal of Khri Srong lde brtsan in the Early Buddhist Histories

2004
M.A. (Distinction): Study of Religions, SOAS, London. Dissertation: The Horse and Hayagrīva in India and Tibet

2002
B.A. Honours (First Class): Religious Studies, Lancaster University. Comparative Religion: Phenomenological approach to all major religions, focus on South Asian religions and independent fieldwork on Indian monasticism

since 2021
Professor (W3) for Tibetology, University of Bonn

• Department for Mongolian and Tibetan Studies³²²²²
• Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies²³³³³

2020–2021
Postdoctoral Researcher, Project: BuddhistRoad ,⁴⁴⁴⁴ Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany⁴

2018–2020
Associate Professor in the History of Religions, focus on Buddhism, NTNU, Norway

2017–2018
Replacement Professor, Chair of Central Asian Languages and Cultures (Tibetology), University of Bonn, Germany

2015–2017
Research Assistant, British Museum, England

2014–2015
Research Fellow, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

2011–2014
Postdoctoral Researcher, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, Germany 

• Organizer of the BuddhistRoad final conference “Establishing of Buddhist Nodes in Eastern Central Asia 6th to 14th c.—Part III: Impacts of Non-Buddhist Influences and Doctrines” July 12th–14th, 2021, Beckmanns Hof, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 12th to 14th July 2021
• Lead Organizer (with Dr. Quentin Devers and Ms. Emanuela Garatti) of the panel “Old Tibetan Studies VI” at the 15th International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) Seminar, Paris, 7th to 13th of July 2019
• Co-convener (with Prof. Nicholas Witkowski, Prof. Charles DiSimone and Dr. Jinkyoung Choi) of the panel “Fissure and Continuity in Himalayan and South Asian Buddhisms of the First Millennium CE” at the 17th annual conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) titled “Religion: Continuations and Disruptions,” Tartu Estonia, 25–29 June 2019
• Co-convener (with Prof. Benjamin Bogin) of the panel “The Second Buddha: New Perspectives on Padmasambhava” at the 2018 annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Washington, DC, 22–25 March 2018
• Co-convener (with Prof. Sven Bretfeld) of the panel “Bell Inscriptions Across the Buddhist World” at the 18th Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), Toronto, 20–25 August 2017
• Organizing Committee member of the Fourth ISYT, Leipzig 2015, and its proceedings, Oct 2014 to Dec 2016
• Co-organizer (with Joydeep Bagchee and Hajnalka Kovacs) of the workshop “Expressing the Ineffable in South Asian Literary Traditions” at Freie Universität Berlin, 7–8 May 2015
• Organizer of the LMU Munich conference and workshop “Merkmals and Mirages: Dating (Old) Tibetan Writing,” held from the 25–27 June 2012
• Organizing Committee member for the SOAS Research Students’ Society conference “Changing Lens: Visual Media and Otherness in Academic Research,” 30–31st March 2010

since 2020
Member, Research Group on Forced Labor and Slavery in Pre-Modern South and South Asia, based at the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

since 2018
Advisory Board Member, Transnational Network for Theravāda Studies

since 2017
Editor, H-Buddhism Buddhist Scholars Information Network⁵

since 2017
Proofreader and English/Tibetan language expert, The Mañjughoṣa Translation Project Leipzig (under the patronage and supervision of 84000⁶)

since 2017
Curator, ལོ་རྒྱུས་ Digital Resources for the Study of Tibetan History⁷

since 2016
Associate Member, SOAS Centre of Buddhist Studies⁸

since 2016
Book Series Editor, “Beyond Boundaries: Religion, Region, Language and the State,” published by De Gruyter (with Michael Willis and Sam van Schaik)

since 2012
Editorial Board Member, Old Tibetan Documents Online⁹

2018–2020
Co-Chair, Buddhist Digital Research Center (BDRC) User Experience Working Group

2016–2019
Advisor, exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art and Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College titled “The Second Buddha,” open 2018–2019

2014–2019
Reviewer, The Treasury of Lives: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya¹⁰

2015–2018
Secretary General, International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT)¹¹

2015–2018
Editorial Board Member, Buddhist Studies Review¹²

2016–2017
Chair of the Publications Committee, “Beyond Boundaries”