We are pleased to welcome Arghyadip Mondal and Zhengyan Fan as new PhD researchers at the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS). They join Prof. Charles DiSimone’s ERC Starting Grant project, “Corpora in Greater Gandhāra: Tracing the development of Buddhist textuality and Gilgit/Bamiyan manuscript networks in the first millennium of the Common Era.”
Arghyadip Mondal‘s academic work lies at the intersection of Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit philosophy, manuscript cultures, and comparative literature. He holds a Master’s degree in Sanskrit from Jadavpur University, specializing in Advaita Vedānta, and he has graduated with top academic distinctions throughout his studies.
His research interests include Indian and Buddhist philosophy, manuscriptology and palaeography, gender and ecological thought in classical literature, and cross-cultural literary reception. He is trained in several classical and modern languages, including Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, German, English, Bengali, and Hindi, and he has teaching experience in Sanskrit, German, and English. Alongside his academic work, he is actively involved in social education initiatives and perform Bengali folk music and Rabindra Saṅgīt.
Zhengyan Fan received an M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hamburg (2025). His earlier research primarily focused on Yogācāra and Vajrayāna buddhism.