Posting date: February 14, 2024

The Department for the Study of Religion (DSR) and the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies (Ho Centre) at the University of Toronto invite applications from recent holders of a PhD (2022 and onward) in the Study of Religion (or cognate field) for a postdoctoral fellowship in the interdisciplinary field of the study of Buddhism. We welcome applications from scholars engaging in a diverse range of methods and time periods, including those working in the study of Buddhism and its intersections with race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. We also welcome candidates who are familiar with or willing to engage in digital humanities projects and/or public outreach. The postdoctoral fellowship is a one-year position, from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, with the possibility of a one-year renewal.

In addition to conducting research in their area of expertise, the responsibilities of the postdoc include: teaching 1.0 FCE (2 courses) per year in the DSR; the Fellow is also expected to contribute to Ho Centre initiatives (pedagogy projects or public outreach, etc.) and to organize and host a public event/program/conference of their design in keeping with the Ho Centre mission. The theme and format of this event will be determined at the beginning of the Fellow’s term, together with the Ho Centre Director.

The Fellow will be provided with workspace, library privileges, and full access to the university’s electronic resources. Postdoctoral fellows are expected to be in residence and to contribute to the intellectual life of the DSR and the Ho Centre through active participation in seminars, workshops, and other events. The Postdoctoral Fellow will be jointly supervised by a DSR faculty member in their research area (appointed by the Chair) and the Ho Centre Director.

The Department for the Study of Religion is located at the University of Toronto, one of the world’s leading research universities. Building upon the expertise of our faculty and the extensive resources of the university, the Department for the Study of Religion is uniquely positioned to nurture critical scholarship and teaching. We draw students from across the world and are situated in one of the most diverse metropolitan regions in North America, on the traditional lands of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River.

The Ho Centre promotes excellence in research and teaching of Buddhist Studies across all three University of Toronto campuses and is housed administratively within the Department for the Study of Religion. The Ho Centre’s programs and events explore the way Buddhist traditions have grown and developed, how they have been understood and transformed, and how we can think about them with discipline in our religiously plural environment.

Salary: $63,000 (plus benefits)

Application deadline: February 29, 2024.

To apply, please send your application with the following information (in a single PDF document) to Tanya Proulx, Chair’s Assistant and Office Administrator, via email: tanya.proulx@utoronto.ca:
• Statement of interest describing your professional and academic experience and specifying your proposed research project and your possible idea for a public-facing event/program/conference sponsored by the Ho Centre
• CV
• List of DSR courses interested in teaching, and one sample syllabus
• Teaching statement of no more than 2 pages
• Two letters of recommendation (to be sent directly to tanya.proulx@utoronto.ca). If candidate is currently ABD, please make sure the letter specifies a projected dissertation completion date.

Employment as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto is covered by the terms of the CUPE 3902 Unit 5 Collective Agreement. The normal hours of work are 40 hours per week for a full-time postdoctoral fellow (pro-rated for those holding a partial appointment) recognizing that the needs of the employee’s research and training and the needs of the supervisor’s research program may require flexibility in the performance of the employee’s duties and hours of work. The award is open to both domestic and international candidates. Successful international candidates must meet all Canadian immigration requirements.

The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.

The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto is glad to welcome Dr. Rory Lindsay to our Buddhist Studies community in a new Assistant Professor position in the Department for the Study of Religion. With support from the Department and the Centre for Buddhist Studies, the new position has been established with a grant from global non-profit 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. This five-year renewable position will support the teaching of Classical Tibetan and research related to Tibetan Buddhism.

Dr. Rory Lindsay, editor at 84000, joined us in his new position on July 1, 2021. Dr. Lindsay completed his doctorate in Tibetan Studies at Harvard University in 2018 and is a Visiting Scholar at the Buddhist Texts Translation Initiative at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). In addition to his editorial work at 84000, he is currently preparing several publications, including his first book, Saving the Dead: Tibetan Funerary Rituals in the Tradition of the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra, which will be published in the University of Vienna’s Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde series later this year.

The University of Toronto has been steadily building Tibetan Studies for nearly two decades, training students who have moved on to teaching positions in Tibetan Studies (including Rory!) and building our library, which has become the largest Tibetan collection in Canada, thanks to a unique agreement with Columbia University. Dr. Lindsay will join a vibrant community of Tibetan Studies scholars and students at the University of Toronto, as well as the University’s larger Buddhist Studies community.

The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies supports academic training, collaborative research, and a program of events that engage scholars and the public seeking to deepen understanding of the diversity of Buddhist traditions around the world. Beyond participating in scholarship and teaching in these areas, Dr. Lindsay will also be continuing his editorial role with the nonprofit organization in pursuit of its one-hundred-year vision to translate and publish the Tibetan Buddhist Canon in English.

Call for Participants!

The Buddhism and Breath Summit will be an online event that explores Buddhist practices of working with the breath and/or bodily “winds”. Presenters will address how Buddhist presentations of breath, “wind” or “life force” (prāṇa in Sanskrit, qi in Chinese, or rlung in Tibetan, for example) have influenced contemplative, philosophical, and medical theories and practices in Buddhist traditions. Featuring pre-recorded video and audio conversations or presentations by scholars and practitioners, plus supplementary educational resources, the Buddhism and Breath Summit will be publicly and freely available online in Fall 2021. Co-hosted by Frances Garrett and Pierce Salguero, this event is co-sponsored by the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto and Jivaka.net.

We are inviting participants to contribute a (roughly) 20 minute recorded video lecture on their work on this topic, by June 15. Recorded lectures can be made with Zoom, Powerpoint, Keynote, or other software. This need not be original research (although it can be) — on the contrary, we ask participants to share already published work as the basis of their talk, and moreover to think of this lecture as addressing an undergraduate or even public audience; we hope to offer these collected talks and written references as teaching resources. Participants may also or alternatively present their work in the form of a recorded conversation about their work with one of the Summit hosts — please let us know if this is preferable. We look forward to offering each selected participant an honorarium for their contributions. Please contact frances.garrett@utoronto.ca or pierce.salguero@gmail.com if you’re interested in participating.