Giacomella Orofino is Full Professor of Tibetan Language and Literature and of Indo-Tibetan Cultures and Religions at Naples “L’Orientale” University. She is also President of the university’s Centre of Buddhism Studies and President and a founding member of the Italian Association of Tibetan, Himalayan and Mongol Studies. She is also a founding member of the non-governmental organization, the Association of International Solidarity in Asia – Associazione di Solidarietà Internazionale in Asia (ASIA).
She has authored important philological, literary and historical-religious studies on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. She coordinates the research unit Modelli e dinamiche di trasmissione del buddhismo in Asia (Transmission Models and Dynamics of Buddhism in Asia) at Naples “Orientale” University, curating numerous scientific and cultural events. Her main research interests concern the mystical and heterodox traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, notably the Rdzogs chen, Bon, Gcod, and Ris med traditions.
Her latest publication is “Empty Iridescent Spheres. Notes on the Metaphysics of Light in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Tantric Sources”, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 65, October 2022, pp. 159-186.