Maria Electra Pacini – DREST (Italian Doctoral School for Religious Studies), DSAAM, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (2022–present)
Recipient of a PhD scholarship funded by the UBI Research Center, with the project:"Buddhism and the Environment: Historical and Modern Case Studies"

Dr. Pacini’s research proposes a shift in perspective in the study of the relationship between Buddhism and ecology. Rather than focusing on the meaning, forms, and uses of the concept of ‘nature’, the project investigates how the researching subject—shaped by pre-existing discourses and imagery—reproduces reifying aspectualizations through language, thought, and action.

The core of the research is an analysis of the Śālistambasūtra (3rd century CE), a Mahāyāna text embodying the ecological perspective of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). The sūtra offers a non-objectifying view of interdependent processes in reality, presenting a dynamic and transformative understanding of the relationship between 'nature' and 'human being'.
Through philological analysis of the Sanskrit, Pāli, and Chinese versions of the text, Dr. Pacini is working on an interlinguistic botanical thesaurus aimed at challenging contemporary objectified views of nature.

In 2023, in collaboration with the UBI Study Center, she organized the seminar series "Natura quo vadis. Semiosis and Topology of a Misunderstanding," consisting of three conference days and three cycles of specialist lectures, examining how the notion of 'nature' has been textualized across time and contexts, and how Buddhist sources offer tools to overturn conventional environmental thinking paradigms.