Online Zoom Forum: His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama: The Spiritual, Ecological, Interreligious, and Diplomatic Vision in his Life and Work.
Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025.
Time: 7pm-9pm (UK time).
Event Description:
Format: There will be five talks, each of 12 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, followed by Q & A.
Chair:
Dr Sara Trevelyan.
Speakers:
Prof Janet Gyatso:
Title: The Dalai Lama As Middle Way World Leader.
Description: The Dalai Lama emerged from the traumatic loss of his country as a superlative leader with astonishing global impact. He has been an exemplar of political humility, political nuance, and Buddhist ethics for our current age. This talk will stand back to consider the range of the Dalai Lama’s interventions as head of the Tibetan community in exile, as well as spokesperson par excellence for the modern adaptation and application of Buddhist principles and knowledge systems on the international stage.
Bio: Janet Gyatso is Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies at Harvard Divinity School. She specializes in Tibetan Buddhism and has written on Tibetan autobiography, medicine and Buddhism, gender conceptions, and other topics in the cultural and intellectual history of Tibet. She is currently working on a book in animal ethics.
Prof Cameron David Warner:
Title: The Dalai Lama's Charismatic Leadership.
Description: On top of being famous world-wide, the present Dalai Lama is arguably more influential among Tibetans, Mongolians, and other Himalayan people than any previous Dalai Lama. Drawing from research presented by scholars of religion, history, political science, and anthropology at a series of conferences over the last two years, I will discuss the Dalai Lama's charismatic leadership among his more ardent followers in and around the Tibetan region. What makes a Dalai Lama charismatic? How can we measure his popularity? And how does his influence impact the practice of Buddhism throughout the Himalayan region?
Bio: Cameron David Warner studies two interrelated processes: the changes to Buddhism in the Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, India, Bhutan) and the development of Nepal. His research touches on material culture, gender, migration, politics, and heritage preservation. He currently serves as the chairperson for the Leadership and Reincarnation of the Dalai Lamas Research Network (LEAD) funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. LEAD organizes workshops and conferences to discuss the Dalai Lama's legacy and the impact of his plans for his upcoming succession.
Professor M.I. Aguilar, KTS, OSB Cam Obl, PhD, FRHistS, FRSA, FRAS, FRGS, FIBG, FRAI:
Title: The Dalai Lama's Model of Universal Responsibility:
Description: This talk will outline the main universal contribution to a universal responsibility by all as outlined by Professor Aguilar in his book on the Dalai Lama and his Dalai Lama Lecture at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, October 2022.
Bio: Mario I Aguilar is Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of St Andrews and the author of The 14th Dalai Lama: Peacekeeping and Universal Responsibility (Routledge, 2020).
Prof Robert Barnett:
Title: Negotiating with China: Skill, Pragmatism, or Dreams?
Description: The diplomatic relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities is deeply atypical: it involves extreme asymmetry in terms of hard power, resources, and numbers of people involved; both sides have public aims that are basically in contradiction with their negotiating positions; and the two sides appear to be pursuing radically different if not incompatible objectives. Given this context, how should we understand the Dalai Lama's strategic thinking in his efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement, and how should we assess which objectives are actually achievable for both sides, rather than rhetorical?
Bio: Robert Barnett is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London and Affiliate Lecturer and Research Affiliate at the Lau China Institute, King's College, London. He is the former Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program, where he was Adjunct Professor of Contemporary Tibetan Studies and Senior Research Scholar in modern Tibetan history at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. He retired from Columbia as of January 2018. He is also referred to as Robbie Barnett by the media.
Robert Barnett founded and directed Columbia's Modern Tibetan Studies Program, the first Western teaching program in the field, until December 2017. His most recent books are Conflicting Memories: Tibetan History under Mao Retold, co-edited with Benno Weiner and Françoise Robin (Brill Publishers, 2020) Tibetan Modernities: Notes from the Field, with Ronald Schwartz (Brill Publishers, 2008) and Lhasa: Streets with Memories (Columbia University Press, 2006). Barnett has also written articles about modern Tibetan history, post-1950 leaders in Tibet, Tibetan cinema and television, women and politics in Tibet, and contemporary exorcism rituals.
At Columbia, he taught courses on Tibetan film and television, contemporary culture, history, oral history, and other subjects. From 2000 to 2006 he ran the annual summer program for foreign students at Tibet University in Lhasa and has taught courses at Princeton and Inalco (Paris).
He is a frequent commentator about Tibet and about nationality issues in China for the BBC, CNN, NPR, CBS, The New York Times, the Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, and other media.
Barnett directed 15 educational projects in Tibet, including training programs in ecotourism and conservation.
Prior to joining the Columbia faculty in 1998, Barnett worked as a researcher and journalist based in the United Kingdom, specializing in Tibetan issues for the BBC, the South China Morning Post, VOA, and other media outlets.
In 1987, Barnett, with Nicholas Howen, co-founded the Tibet Information Network (TIN), an independent London-based research organization covering events in Tibet, of which he was the director until 1998.
Dr Susan Bauer-Wu:
Title: The Dalai Lama as Scientist and Ecological Steward.
Description: For many decades, the Dalai Lama has been deeply engaged in dialogue with scientists and committed to raising awareness to protect the natural environment. This talk will highlight his expansive curiosity and steadfast efforts in support of advancing science and promoting ecological stewardship, thereby resulting in substantive, lasting impacts.
Bio: Susan Bauer-Wu is the author of A Future We Can Love: Effective Approaches to the Climate Crisis that Begin with Us (Shambhala, 2023), inspired by an online conversation with the Dalai Lama, Greta Thunberg, and climate scientists and written while she was the president of the Mind & Life Institute, a non-profit organization with global reach co-founded by the Dalai Lama. She is a contemplative scientist and clinician, and is also the author of Leaves Falling Gently: Living Fully with Serious Illness through Mindfulness, Compassion and Connectedness (Shambhala, 2025).
An archive recording will be made for the EICSP archive.
NB: There will be no refund if you cancel your booking.
Cost: By Donation:
Contact: Neill Walker, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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