Ann Heirman, Ph.D. (1998) in Oriental Languages and Cultures, is Professor at Ghent University (Belgium), where she is teaching Classical and Buddhist Chinese.
She has published extensively on Chinese Buddhist monasticism and the development of disciplinary rules, including Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya (Motilal Banarsidass, 2002), The Spread of Buddhism (Brill, edited volume with Stephan Peter Bumbacher, 2007), A Pure Mind in a Clean Body , Bodily Care in the Buddhist Monasteries of Ancient India and China (with Mathieu Torck, Academia Press, 2012), and Buddhist Encounters and Identities Across East Asia (Brill, edited volume with Carmen Meinert and Christoph Anderl, 2018). At Ghent University, she is the head of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, an international research centre that focuses on India and China.
Her main administrative tasks include: Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures (2018-), Head of the Examination Commissions of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (2012-), and Head of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies.
