Individual support, global reach

Since 2013, the Foundation has made available a series of grants to individual Buddhist scholars at different stages of their studies. The programme is designed to provide the vital financial support to help those interested in exploring the Buddhist world in its many different forms to pursue and continue their studies, ranging from graduate students finishing dissertations through to postdoctoral fellowships, research and collaborative research fellowships and professorships. Rather than siting these awards in particular institutions, the enterprising programme makes such funding available to scholars working on relevant issues at the requisite standard anywhere in the world. This way, the Foundation is able to reach out globally to Buddhist scholars and at the same time foster a “fellowship community” among awardees.

To administer the fellowships, the Foundation works together with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), a non-profit federation of scholarly societies focused on advancement of the humanities and highly experienced in the administration of fellowship grants.

The Foundation’s fellowship awards programme has been “absolutely collaborative” in its creation, with meetings convened with scholars in the field to make sure the awards were what was needed, according to ACLS President Dr Pauline Yu. Applications must be in English but research can be carried out in any language and on any topic, historical or contemporary. “A fellowship provides critical external validation to awardees: the recognition that what is important to them intellectually is significant not just to them, but to a larger community of knowledge,” she said. “So the programme provides both an individual and collective benefit.”

Vitally, the awards also help to keep Buddhist scholars studying, she noted. “Such fellowships offer crucial support to enable students to finish their work. Especially dissertation writing, which may end up not being completed due to lack of funding. The awards enable them to finish a project.” This sentiment is echoed by Professor John Kieschnick, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Professor of Buddhist Studies at Stanford University. “For graduates, the fellowships have made a big difference, and are already well known in the Buddhist scholar community,” he said.

More than 90 scholars have benefited from the four competitive calls for applications up to 2017, with grants going to applicants at universities in Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom and North America, among others, and grantees hailing from around the world. Classical Buddhist studies, Buddhism and modernity across the South China Sea, and Buddhist social work in 20th century Japan, are just some of the many areas being explored.

ACLS has worked with a large number of foundations. The difference in working with the Ho Foundation is the personal interest shown in activities by Mr Ho, said Dr Yu. “This is different from most of our foundation relationships, where they are many decades removed from their original founders.” At the same time, there is full understanding that he will be hands-off for decision-making on awardees, which is done by peer review.

In addition to supporting scholars directly, grant categories include 'new professorships', providing seed money to universities seeking to establish positions in Buddhist studies. Should the overall programme run for five to 10 years, Dr Yu expects a huge and noticeable impact. “Mr Ho wants to make a difference and holds the notion that his philanthropy can be catalytic,” said Dr Yu, who became a member of the Foundation’s board in 2014. “I think it’s great to have the ambition and high standards that he clearly expects. It is not easy to give away money responsibly. He knows he needs wisely chosen professional staff and a committed board and he recognises institutional partners, such as ACLS, can be helpful too.”

One key aspect of the fellowship programme is the building of a network linking individual scholars and senior scholars in the field. The first major link is the annual symposium for dissertation fellows, organized by ACLS and inaugurated at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2015. A similar symposium is due to take place at a different Foundation network member institution each year. “The global network is interesting because it is not so much about creating Buddhist scholarship elsewhere but recognising it is in fact being undertaken everywhere and bringing those people together,” Dr Yu said.

Mr Ho, who attended the UBC symposium and talked with the young scholars there, is also optimistic that the gathering is finally enabling his long-held dream of a global Buddhist community of scholars to move closer to realisation. “I keep pushing for a network. With the symposium, I feel we have now got it going.”