Anna Sokolova obtained her B. A. from Herzen University in St. Petersburg (2004), M.A. in Classical Chinese Literature from Chongqing University (2012), and M.A. in Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford (2013). Anna is a now a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Ghent University. Her current research focuses on the development of regional Buddhist communities and composition of local elite groups during the Tang dynasty, as well as broader issue of the role of Buddhism in the transformation of medieval Chinese elite society.
Anna has annually participated in the field trips and intensive programs of FROGBEAR since 2015 including Cluster 3.3 field trip to Kanazawa-Bunko (2018), Cambridge Intensive Program on Buddhism at the University of Cambridge (2018), and Cluster 3.2 field trip to the Shaolin Monastery and to the Luoyang Grottos (2017), among other activities. She has also presented parts of her research at the Young Scholars’ Forum held at the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts in Taiwan in the framework of the winter intensive program on Buddhism and East Asian Cultures (2018).