Imre Galambos

Professor Imre Galambos is a renowned scholar of Chinese history and manuscript studies. He served as Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies until his retirement in 2023. He now holds the Qiushi Chair Professorship at Zhejiang University and is an Honorary Professor at Hamburg University. His research focuses on Dunhuang manuscripts, Tangut studies, and the history of Chinese writing, with particular emphasis on medieval China and Silk Road cultural exchanges. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley with a dissertation on Warring States orthography and contributed to the International Dunhuang Project (IDP). His work explores manuscript cultures, textual transmission, and the materiality of writing in pre-modern East Asia.

• Education: Ph.D. in Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley
• Key Roles: Former Head of the International Dunhuang Project, Cambridge Faculty Member (2012–2023)
• Research Interests: Manuscript analysis, Buddhist texts, Silk Road networks, and comparative book history

His publications span Dunhuang studies, Tangut translations, and the codicology of medieval Chinese texts. He has pioneered methodologies for analyzing fragmented manuscripts and their socio-cultural contexts. His work often bridges archaeology, linguistics, and religious studies to illuminate pre-modern East Asian knowledge systems.