is Director of the Western Himalaya Archive Vienna at the University of Vienna

Verena Widorn studied art history in Vienna and Dijon, earning her PhD in 2007 with a specialization in Asian art history. Since 2001 she has served as head of the Western Himalaya Archive Vienna (WHAV) at the University of Vienna. Within several projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), she has carried out extensive field research in northern India and Nepal. She has been affiliated with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Documentation of Inner and South Asian Cultural History (CIRDIS) since 2007, and teaches South Asian art and architecture from the premodern period to the present. Her research focuses on Buddhist and Hindu art, architecture and material culture, particularly along pilgrimage routes, as well as cultural heritage preservation, archiving and digital data management (Data Steward training in 2024/25).