Professor Ulrich Pagel

Ulrich Pagel is the Seiyu Kiriyama Professor of Buddhist Studies and Chair of the Centre of Yoga Studies at SOAS University of London.

He served as Head of the School of History, Religions and Philosophies from 2018–2022. Since 2012, Ulrich Pagel has convened the MA Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS, both leading the programme and contributing extensively to its teaching delivery.

In 2022, he established international partnerships between SOAS and a number of Chinese yoga institutions to develop the innovative Yoga and Meditation Education Certificate, which is taught online and offered in Chinese.

He also teaches Classical Tibetan at the SOAS Language Centre.

Ulrich Pagel previously worked as Assistant Professor (Tibetan Language and Literature) at the University of Washington (Seattle) (1997–1999) and the British Library (Curator of the Tibetan Collections, 1993–1997). 

He also served two terms as General Secretary of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (2011 to 2019) and lead the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies as Editor-in-Chief (2010 to 2016). 

Academic management

• Editor-in-Chief, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (2010-2018)
• Director of SOAS Yoga Studies online
• Chair, Centre of Yoga Studies

Service in international associations

• General Secretary, International Association of Buddhist Studies (2011-2019)

Previous doctoral supervisees

• Ville Husgafel, “MBSR as a Post-Buddhist Tradition of Meditation” (PhD awarded in 2023)
• Meng Wang, “The Life of the 16^th Karmapa and his Role in the Tibetan Buddhist Transmission to the West” (PhD awarded in 2019)
• Susan Roach, “Renunciation and Asceticism in Early Buddhism with Reference to the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya” (PhD awarded in 2018)
• Patricia Sauthoff, “Open Secrets and the Retention of Power in Esoteric Kashmiri Śaivism: The views of Abhinavagupta, Kṣemarāja, Jayaratha and Yogarāja” (PhD awarded in 2017).
• Adam Pearcey, “The Great Perfection (Rdzogs chen) according to Rdo grub chen ‘Jigs med bstan pa’i nyi ma (1865-1926), his Collaborators and Disciples” (PhD awarded in 2018).
• Karen O’Brien-Kop, “Seed and Cloud as Metaphors of Liberation in Buddhist and Patañjala Yoga: An Intertextual Study (PhD awarded in 2018)
• Cathy-Mae Karelse, “Modern Mindfulness: the case of the United Kingdom and United States” (PhD awarded in 2019)
• Serena Biondo, “Life and Teachings of the 10^th-century Tibetan Master A ro Ye shes ‘Byung gnas” UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded (PhD awarded in  2017)
• Karen Liljenberg, “A Critical Study of the Thirteen Later Translations of the rDzogs chen Mind Series” (PhD awarded in 2012)
• Ligeia Lugli, “The Conception of Language in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism, with special reference to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra” (PhD awarded in 2011)
• Lewis Doney, “The Historical Depictions of King Khri srong lde btsan in Eighth to Twelfth Century Tibet” (PhD awarded in 2011)
• Jan Westerhoff: “Causation in early Madhyamaka Writings” (PhD awarded in 2007)
• Osto, Douglas Edward: “The Good Friends of the Gaṇḍavyūha: A Study in Wealth, Gender and Power in a Buddhist Narrative” (PhD awarded in 2004)
• Yoeli Tlalim, Ronit, “Contemporary Teachings of the Kālacakratantra in Exile” (PhD awarded in 2003).
• Shi Zhen Jing: “The Literature of the Great Decease: Mahāparinirvāṅa Materials in Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Taoism” (PhD awarded in 2003)

Mahāyāna Literature, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Ancient India, Buddhist Monasticism, Buddhist Philosophy, Traditions of Buddhist Meditation.