On May 27, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) announced that Tricycle would be one of four host institutions. 2026 Buddhism Public Scholars. Supported by Robert HN Ho Family Foundation Globalthis program places early-career PhD researchers in professional roles in museums and publications that focus on Buddhist art, thought, and practice.
Tricycle New Scientist Nataly Shahaf is a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. He received his PhD from Columbia University and studies Buddhism, visual culture, and the supernatural in modern China. His upcoming book, Multiple exposures: ghost photography, Buddhism, and in the early stages of visual heritage Twentieth Century Chinaexamines how photography and other visual technologies influenced Buddhist religious practice and thought in the early Republican era, and how Buddhist ideals influenced the reception of these technologies. Tricycle readers may remember his retrospective essay on Spring 2025 issue.
“I have always understood scholarship as a practice that develops through conversation and community,” Shahaf said. “I am excited to join Tricycle as a Fellow and contribute to a space that combines rigorous inquiry and lived Buddhist practice, particularly in the dialogue between Buddhism and science that informs my work as a historian.”
Shahaf joins Tricycle in September with success Zim PickensPickens spent most of his 20s working with Tibetan Buddhist communities in Kathmandu before earning his PhD in South and Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley. He has written on a wide range of Buddhist topics for Tricycle and co-authored:About the Academy,” a monthly newsletter of Buddhist thought and scholarship for premium subscribers, Pickens was instrumental in Tricycle’s recent redesign as both editor and writer. Buddhism for Beginners.
“I was particularly drawn to Tricycle because it offers a space for a perspective across Buddhist traditions. I have drawn primarily from Tibetan Buddhism in my work,” said Pickens. “The next Buddhism Public Scholar brings expertise in a completely different field, and I’m sure he’ll find a home at Tricycle.”
The 2026 cohort also includes staff from the Lion’s Roar Foundation, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. This is the third time that Tricycle Buddhism has hosted a Public Scholar Frederick M. Ranallo-Higgins in the first year of the program, in 2022.
This new group comes a few months after his death Robert HN Howho died in Vancouver on November 30, 2025, aged 93. His commitment to Buddhist studies and sharing his insights with the wider world contributed to the creation of the Buddhism Public Scholars program. Tricycle is grateful for its vision and continued support of the Robert HN Ho Family Foundation Global.
