Agnieszka Helman-Ważny (PI of the DRONG project) is a bibliologist and the author or co-author of six books and more than fifty scholarly articles, including The Archaeology of Tibetan Books (Brill 2014) and The Mustang Archives: Analysis of handwritten documents via the study of papermaking traditions in Nepal (Brepols forthcoming, co-authored with Charles Ramble). Her main research focuses on the history of the regional production and usage of paper and books in Tibet and Central Asia. Using interdisciplinary methods in collaboration with private collectors, museum curators, Tibetan artisans, as well as personal experience in “experimental manuscriptology,” Dr. Helman-Ważny’s work is concerned with establishing paper typologies, and applying modern technologies in the identification and dating of premodern non-western manuscripts, including the Dunhuang manuscripts. She will have an overall responsibility for the execution and reporting of the project, coordination of the work, codicological and material analyses of manuscripts, development of publications, and supervision of staff and students.
Charles Ramble (co-PI of the DRONG project) is currently professor of Tibetan History and Philology (directeur d’études en sciences historiques et philologiques) at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. From 2000-2010 he held the position of University Lecturer in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at the University of Oxford, and from 2006–2013 he was president of the International Association for Tibetan Studies. He has published extensively on aspects of the Bön religion and on the history and culture of Mustang, Nepal. His role in the DRONG project will be: to write descriptions of the manuscripts’ content, and the place they have in the Bön religion; to make translations of selected passages; to work with Naljor Tsering on the identification of people named in the colophons of the texts, and to work with Nyima Drandul on editing the transcripts of the manuscripts.
Naljor Tsering is in the first year of a PhD in Tibetan Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, under the supervision of Charles Ramble. Prior to this he completed a Masters degree in Tibetan Studies at the Southwest Minorities University, Chengdu, China. The subject of his PhD is the ritual cycle of the Bön divinity Gekhö. His role in the DRONG project is to prepare a catalogue of the entire collection, with transcriptions and translations of colophons; to work with Charles Ramble on identifying places and individuals named in the texts, and to excerpt any available information concerning the dates of composition and transcription, and the circumstances (including indications concerning patronage) in which the manuscripts were produced.
Nyima Drandul is a member of a family of tantric lamas from Mustang, Nepal, who has worked as an assistant and collaborator with a number of international research projects, such as The Nepal-German Project on High Mountain Archaeology (1992-1997), the Franco-German (ANR-DFG-funded) projects Social History of Tibetan Societies, 17th to 20th Centuries (2011-2016) and Social Status in the Tibetan World (2016-2020). He is the co-author, with Charles Ramble, of three books and one article, and the co-author of one other book. His role in the DRONG project will be to transcribe a selection (all but a few) of the manuscripts in the collection in romanised Wylie transliteration.
Barbara Wagner, DSc, PhD, MSc in analytical chemistry, graduated from University of Warsaw (Poland) and MA in conservation of works of art, graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Poland). She is the leader of the InterLabAR research group (INTERdisciplinary LAboratory of Archeometric Research) at The University of Warsaw Biological and Chemical Research Centre. Her interests are focused in the area of development of new multi-analytical scenarios for elemental and isotopic investigations of historic objects with special attention to their micro- and non-destructiveness with respect to original matter. She is addicted to taking photos. In this project, she is the coordinator of physic-chemical investigations of the manuscripts from Drangsong Collection. Personal website: http://beta.chem.uw.edu.pl/people/BWagner/
Agata Szubartowska is an MSc student at the Faculty of Chemistry, Univeristy of Warsaw, where she received her BSc degree (2018) in chemistry, in the field of archeometry. She is a member of the research group INTERdisciplinary LAboratory for Archeometric Research at The University of Warsaw Biological and Chemical Research Centre. She is interested in analytical chemistry – especially in application of advanced instrumental methods in studies of artefacts and historical objects. Besides scientific fields, she is fond of travelling and learning foreign languages. In this project, Agata is responsible for physicochemical research on the manuscripts from Drangsong Collection.
Alicja Chibowska is an MSc student at the Faculty of Chemistry, Univeristy of Warsaw, where she received her BSc degree (2018 in analytical chemistry). She is a member of the research group INTERdisciplinary LAboratory for Archeometric Research at The University of Warsaw Biological and Chemical Research Centre. Her specialty is analytical and spectrometric methods used in archaeometry. Her interests, apart from chemistry and history of art, are new approaches in education, and ultimate frisbee. In this project she is focused on physic-chemical analysis of objects from the Drangsong Collection.
Zdzisław Dobrowolski has been exploring the Internet for years. Internet issues and science communication are the topics of two his books and a number of articles published in scientific journals. He administers two digital libraries: The Digital Library of Book Studies, and Poles Abroad Digital Library. Z. Dobrowolski is a member of the Drangsong Manuscripts project as a site administrator.
Rajmund Radziewicz is a creator of Linux-EduCD, Linux distribution designed for education. Author of various articles about open source and computer networks. For dozen years works in IT industry mainly in goverment projects. Fan of classical music, interested in antropology of religion and comparative mythology. He participates in the project as a consultant for information technology.
INTRODUCTION | BACKGROUND | FORMAT AND LAYOUT | PROVENANCE STUDY | CONTACT