ACLS Awards Six Buddhist Studies Public Impact Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies has awarded six inaugural Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Public Impact Grants in Buddhist Studies, worth up to $50,000 each. The grants support projects intended to increase public understanding of Buddhist art, texts, and traditions. Awardees include collaborators working with scholars, communities of practice, and the public. ACLS is marking 100 years of grantmaking to individual scholars in 2026.

Six Public Projects

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Public Impact Grants in Buddhist Studies include a podcast on Asian American Buddhists in US society, a Buddhist environmental storytelling workshop, and an interactive archive of unpublished work by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh.

Other projects include a podcast about Buddhist biographies in Tibet and surrounding regions, a translation project involving communities of practice, and the restoration of Buddhist architecture in Ladakh, India with local craftsmen. Studio Nyandak’s collaborative team will restore 15 Kankani chorten, or gateway stupas, in Ladakh.

Daphne Weber, ACLS Program Officer for Buddhist Studies, said:

“ACLS is honored to support these collaborators from a wide range of communities: monastics, university faculty, public scholars, practitioners, librarians, archivists, and an architecture firm. Their projects showcase the many forms public engagement can take, as well as the relevance of and desire for Buddhist Studies scholarship beyond the academy. We look forward to following and sharing their work throughout the coming year.”

Program Expands Buddhist Studies

The grantees join one institution and 18 individual scholars previously announced as 2026 awardees of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies.

Supported by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global, the program promotes academic study of Buddhism, supports international networks of Buddhist scholars, and raises the visibility of research on Buddhist traditions.