Michael Ium
| PersonType | Category:Authors of English Works Category:Professors Category:Translators |
|---|---|
| FirstName / namefirst | Michael |
| LastName / namelast | Ium |
| MainNamePhon | Michael Ium |
| SortName | Ium, Michael |
| bio | We are deeply saddened to announce that our colleague and friend, Michael Hee Ium, passed away at Vienna’s General Hospital on April 9, 2025, after a sudden onset of severe illness. Michael joined the Austrian Academy of Sciences in January 2025. He worked at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (IKGA) as a Postdoctoral Fellow within the project “TibSchol: The dawn of Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism (11th–13th c.).” We felt very fortunate to have him as a member of our Institute, even if his stay with us was cut short, and far too brief.
Born and raised in Toronto as the son of South Korean immigrants, Michael completed degrees at the University of Toronto (BSc Psychology), Maitripa College (MA Buddhist Studies), and the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the Department of Religious Studies (MA, PhD 2023, Religious Studies), where he also began to gain teaching experience. After having earned his PhD, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion and the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies. He subsequently taught at the University of Toronto, Mississauga’s Department of Historical Studies. A textualist and historian of religion, his research focused on the religions of Tibet and South Asia, and in particular, on the early history of Ganden Monastery and the construction of the Geluk tradition in Tibet, which was the subject of his dissertation. Although the Geluk tradition is largely regarded as a monastic and scholastic tradition, Michael’s research emphasized the importance of understudied aspects of the tradition, such as mahāsiddhas, oracular prophecy, and pilgrimage, for its growth and development. His 2022 article “Tsongkhapa as a mahāsiddha: A Reevaluation of the Patronage of the Gelukpa in Tibet” (Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 45, 73-117) provides a glimpse of his intellectual brilliance and his nuanced approach to Tibetan religious history. Michael also served as co-editor for the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies (CJBS, https://thecjbs.org/). During his short period at the IKGA and as a member of the TibSchol project, we swiftly came to appreciate Michael not only for his insightful scholarship, deep intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm, but also for his warm and gentle nature, his humility and compassion. In only a few months time, Michael became a close colleague and friend to many at our Institute, as well as to colleagues and students at the University of Vienna. He was excited to embark on a new phase in his life, and the community in Vienna warmly embraced him. We all were looking forward to working with him, learning from him, and enjoying his amicable and uplifting company. His untimely passing was a shock that reverberated far beyond Vienna, however, and our thoughts are with everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. Michael spent his final days with his beloved mother. Close colleagues and friends were by his side. Obituary published here: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ikga/obituary-michael-ium-1984-2025 (Source Accessed April 11, 2025) |
| YearBirth | 1984 |
| YearDeath | 2025 |
| BornIn | Toronto, Canada |
| associatedwebsite | https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ikga/team/research/ium-michael |
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