Jens Braarvig is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Oslo and Director of the Norwegian Institute of Philology. His research focuses on the history, literature, and languages of Buddhism, with expertise in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Buddhist Chinese. He is founder and director of Bibliotheca Polyglotta, a multilingual digital platform for studying historical texts including the Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae, and has served as editor-in-chief of Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection since 1998. Braarvig is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and was conferred an honorary degree by Mahachulalongkorn University in Thailand in 2011. His work explores how Buddhist ideas are transmitted across languages and cultures through translation, a process he views as essential to creating shared global understanding.