David Wharton gained his PhD in Southeast Asian Studies, magna cum laude, from the University of Passau, Germany, in 2018. He is currently a Research Fellow II in Theravada Buddhist Studies at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where he collaborates with Alastair Gornall on his research project “Buddhist Ecological Thought in Early Modern Southeast Asia.” He is also a Research Associate of the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO).

David’s main research interest is in the religious practices and manuscript cultures of Tai ethnolinguistic groups on the northern periphery of Theravada Buddhist influence in mainland Southeast Asia, southwest China, and northeast India. His work on the manuscript cultures of mainland Southeast Asia over the past 20 years also includes large digital repositories of Lao and Northern Thai manuscripts.

Tai Buddhist Manuscript Cultures

Southeast Asian Studies, Buddhist Studies