The University of Birmingham’s September 2026 update on the Dharmanath Network in Jain Studies shows what sustained support from the Jain community is making possible: new scholarship, wider teaching of Jain philosophy, and a growing partnership between academics and the living Jain tradition.
For the Institute of Jainology (IOJ), these developments advance a longstanding commitment to sharing Jain values through art, culture and education. Now completing its third year, the Network is creating opportunities for students, researchers and community members to explore Jainism’s rich heritage and its relevance to contemporary life.
A lasting home for Jain heritage
A major milestone was the restitution agreement marked at the House of Commons on 14 May 2026, restoring ownership of more than 2,000 historic manuscripts from Wellcome Collection to the Jain community through IOJ. The manuscripts are to be deposited at the University’s Cadbury Research Library, combining community ownership with specialist care and opportunities for research, teaching and public engagement.
As IOJ’s recent Ahimsa Day update reported, the first tranche is expected to reach Birmingham in April 2027.
For the Jain community, this partnership offers a way to carry forward the tradition of preserving and studying manuscripts while making their contents accessible to future generations. Its success will depend on the continuing involvement of scholars, conservation specialists and Jains across traditions.
Birmingham’s wider resources are also growing. More than 1,500 books from the approximately 2,500-volume Paul Dundas Collection have been catalogued through the work of Aarti Gulgulia and Preesha Sanghrajka. Material from anthropologist Marcus Banks’s study of Jain communities in Leicester and Jamnagar has also found a home at the University, adding an important record of lived Jain experience.
Connecting scholarship with the community
The Network’s international conference in memory of Paul Dundas brought together more than 70 participants from the UK, Europe, the United States, India and Japan. Opening with the Namokar Mantra, the gathering connected academic discussion with the tradition at the heart of its work. An evening hosted by Jain Ashram Birmingham gave scholars and community members further opportunities to meet and exchange ideas.
The conference also marked the launch of the new JAINpedia. An IOJ initiative, JAINpedia provides reliable resources on Jainism, including more than 5,000 digitised manuscript folios from major UK cultural collections. Its use by scholars demonstrates how community-led projects can support international research while opening Jain heritage to a wider public.
These connections continue throughout the year. Students visited Jain Ashram Birmingham in March 2026, while Dr Jinesh Sheth delivered community lectures, including weekly online sessions on Samantabhadra’s Aptamimamsa for Shree Chandana Vidyapeeth South London.
Supporting the next generation of scholars
The first Dharmanath Scholar, Aarti Gulgulia, has been researching Mallishena’s Syadvadamanjari, examining Jain approaches to knowledge and the limitations of human understanding. She has shared her work at academic events, including at Oxford, while contributing to the cataloguing of the Paul Dundas Collection.
The report also announces Sohum Shah as the second scholarship recipient, with planned research on Jain contemplative practices and the philosophy of living well in Hemachandra’s Yogashastra.
Such support helps develop the expertise needed to interpret Jain texts and share them with future generations. Research and translation work by Dr Marie-Hélène Gorisse, Dr Sheth and their international colleagues is particularly valuable where important philosophical works remain difficult to access in English.
Bringing Jain principles into contemporary discussions
Teaching on Jainism now reaches students at undergraduate and Master’s levels. The appointment of Dr Christina Easton as Assistant Professor in the Ethics of Non-Violence has added further opportunities to explore how ahimsa can inform responses to contemporary challenges.
Her work addresses education, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and compassionate relationships with animals. Students have also encountered anekantavada through discussion of the blind men and the elephant parable. These are opportunities for Jain ideas to contribute to wider reflection on how we learn, make decisions and live together.
The Network’s involvement in the interfaith conference co-organised by IOJ in Rome in June 2026 further connected scholarship with IOJ’s work in dialogue and cooperation.
The Institute of Jainology congratulates the Birmingham team and thanks the donors, community organisations and individuals whose support sustains this work. Together, these achievements show how investment in Jain Studies can preserve knowledge, nurture new scholars and help more people engage thoughtfully with the Jain tradition.
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