June 6, 2024 is the birthday of Tatiana Viktorovna Ermakova, Candidate of Sciences in Philosophy, Leading Researcher at the South Asia sector of the Department of Central and South Asia.

T.V. Ermakova graduated with honours from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Leningrad State University in 1976. In 1980 she finished her postgraduate studies at the same university specializing in “Philosophy of religion and religious studies”. From 1980 to 1990 she worked at the research department of the Professional Unions’ University of Culture.

T.V. Ermakova joined the IOM RAS in 1990 and since then she has been researching the history of Oriental studies and the Buddhist philosophy in early medieval India. In 1994 she successfully defended her Candidate of Sciences dissertation titled “Establishment of Russian Buddhology as a subfield of religious studies” [Становление отечественной буддологии как отрасли религиоведения]. In the same year the “Nauka” publishing house issued her monograph “Buddhist world as seen by Russian researchers of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century” (Russia and neighbouring countries) [Буддийский мир глазами российских исследователей XIX — первой трети XX века. (Россия и сопредельные страны)]. This fundamental study and later works by T.V. Ermakova on history and international research ties of the Russian school of Buddhology are widely known. As an authority in this field T.V. Ermakova was invited in 2019 to give a lecture in the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies at the University of Heidelberg (Germany).

Research works by T.V. Ermakova also include books co-authored with her colleagues, “Classical Buddhism” (1999, 2005), “Classical Buddhist practices” (2002, 2006), “Classical Buddhist philosophy” (2007, 2022), chapters in edited volumes, and publications of archival materials and documents.

T.V. Ermakova is an experienced organizer of research work: since 2007 she manages the annual conference “All-Russian Orientalist Seminar in memory of O.O. Rosenberg” and since 2016 she organizes the seminar “Current Issues of Buddhological and Indological Studies”. From 2005 to 2009 she was academic secretary of the Institute.

T.V. Ermakova lectured at the Department of Oriental languages and cultures of the Russian Christian Humanities Academy (1996‒2013) and the Department of theory and history of culture of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Culture (2005‒2023). She has developed the lecture courses “Buddhist culture of the peoples of South and Central Asia”, “History of Russian Buddhology”, “Everyday culture of the peoples of South and Central Asia”.

She is actively involved in community service as a member of the Institute’s professional union committee.

T.V. Ermakova’s research, teaching and organizational activities were recognized with various awards. She has received the Honorary certificate of the Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Council of RAS Professional Unions for many years of diligent work and practical contribution to fundamental and applied research. She was also awarded a medal of the Buddhist sangha of Russia “Saint Petersburg Datsan Centennial Decoration” for research on Buddhism.

Colleagues at the IOM RAS respect T.V. Ermakova for her professional erudition and personal qualities: objectivity, benevolence, sociability.

Administration and colleagues at the IOM RAS wish T.V. Ermakova a happy birthday, good health and continued academic success.

We would like to thank T.V. Ermakova for fruitful academic and organizational work.