The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi is a philosopher, educator, and monk dedicated to promoting ethical imagination and empathy-based learning.

Priyadarshi is director of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, a nonpartisan think tank—founded by six Nobel Peace Prize laureates—focused on interdisciplinary research and programs that advance individual and global ethics. 

Ordained by the Dalai Lama, Priyadarshi developed a deeper interest in compassion by observing the work of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, during his early years. Along with religious studies, he pursued his education in philosophy, physics, and international relations. 

He co-chaired the Harvard Buddhist Community at Harvard Divinity School and was one of four alumni to receive the School’s inaugural Peter J. Gomes STB ’68 Memorial Honors in 2013.

He is a Tribeca Disruptive Fellow, former fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, founding principal of the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund, and founding member of the Council for Extended Intelligence, which helps advance ethical and responsible design for emerging technologies. He also serves on the boards of several academic, humanitarian, and religious organizations.

“I believe the HAA has a crucial role to play in how the alumni community can contribute to a new kind of leadership that the world so desperately needs. Much of my work has focused on designing new pedagogies for empathy-based learning and ethical imagination, and I’m interested in how institutions, especially in higher education, can promote trust and compassion in civic society.”