The Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies is a community network of Buddhist scholars working in the Australasian region (including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands).¹ It aims to promote the academic study of Buddhism in the region through organising events, public dissemination of materials, connecting likeminded scholars and students across disciplines, and linking to similar international scholars and organisations in the field.² 

The Association was formed collaboratively by the University of Western Sydney and the University of Sydney in October 2005. It developed out of a regular seminar series initiated by Adrian Snodgrass at the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR), University of Western Sydney in 2002. It recognised a shift away from textual studies towards the cultural, social, and historical perspectives in the study of Buddhism, and aimed to provide a multidisciplinary academic forum across different universities. One of the reasons that CCR hosted it was because of its commitment to the communities of Greater Western Sydney, which included many Buddhists.³ 

Seminars are regularly held in Sydney and Melbourne. Since its inception, conferences have been held in 2006 (University of Sydney), 2007 (University of Western Sydney), 2009 (University of Sydney), 2011 (University of Otago), 2012 (University of Western Sydney), and 2018 (Deakin University). Seminar and conference papers have covered a range of subjects in Buddhist Studies delivered by both Australasian and international scholars. 

By: Juewei Shi and Sioh Yang Tan

References: 

¹ Anna Halafoff et al., “Buddhism in Australia: An emerging field of study,” Journal of Global Buddhism 13 (2012): 9–25, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1306513, 14. 

² “Aims,” Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies, accessed August 7, 2026, https://www.buddhiststudies.org.au/aims/; “About,” Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies. 

³ “About,” Australasian Association of Buddhist Studies, accessed August 7, 2026, https://www.buddhiststudies.org.au/about/; Halafoff et al., “Buddhism in Australia,” 14.