2017–2019 Masters Fellowship at McMaster University
Alice Shan Shan Zhao, M.A. student in Chinese Buddhism, received a stipend to support thesis research. She also participated in 2018 International and Intensive Program on Buddhism at UBC.
Shan Shan is interested in the topics of suicide and violence, especially self-immolation, in medieval Chinese Buddhism. More specifically, she is interested in the social and political issues related to Buddhist self-immolation and the interpretations from different groups at that time, including the sangha and government officials.