The second Vietnamese elected to the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts

Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong was elected as a corresponding academician of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts at the age of 45, the second Vietnamese scientist to become a corresponding academician of the institute, after the late Professor Phan Huy Le.

Elected member of the French Academy at the age of 45

Bulletin No. 238, issued in November this year by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Letters (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres), has just announced the results of the election of 8 additional foreign correspondent members on October 17. Among them is Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong, a Vietnamese scientist .

List of 8 newly elected foreign correspondent members of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts

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On the official website of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts, the foreign correspondent academician Nguyen Tuan Cuong was born in 1980 in Thai Binh province, Vietnam. He researches in the field of Oriental studies, including classical Vietnamese studies, linguistics and classical Vietnamese writing, scripts, Vietnamese and Chinese Confucianism, translation and reception of Confucian classics in medieval Vietnam.

On the website, Mr. Cuong is introduced as the Director of the Institute of Han Nom Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (however, recently, Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong said that he has completed 2 terms as Director of the Institute of Han Nom Studies from November 9, 2025). Previously, he was a lecturer at Hanoi National University, and is currently a part-time lecturer there.

Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong was elected to replace Professor Miklós Szabó, a Hungarian archaeologist who passed away on December 14, 2023.

Notably, among the eight newly elected foreign correspondents, Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong is the youngest. He is 10 years younger than the "second youngest" (Professor Martinez Eugenio Luján, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain).

According to the French Embassy in Vietnam, the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts is one of five member academies of the French Institute (l'Institut de France), one of which is the Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) where Professor Ngo Bao Chau was elected as a foreign academician (Associé étranger) in June 2017.

The election of Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong has restored a position of foreign correspondent academician for the field of Vietnamese studies, a position that the late Professor Phan Huy Le held from 2011 to 2018 - when he passed away, and has been vacant until now.

It is known that it is very rare for a scientist to be elected as a corresponding member of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts at the age of 45 like Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong. The late Professor Phan Huy Le became a corresponding member of the institute at the age of 77.

One of two Asian correspondents

According to documents of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts, the academy was founded in 1663, during the reign of King Louis XIV. The academy has 50 French academicians and 40 foreign academicians, as well as 50 French correspondent academicians and 50 foreign correspondent academicians.

The French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts is a gathering place of outstanding and highly representative individuals. Academicians are scholars elected for life on the basis of the quality of their research in the fields under the purview of the academy (archaeology, history, philology and many other branches and specialties), on the basis of their professional ethics and their international reputation.

There are only two Asian scientists who are corresponding members of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts.

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When a seat in the House becomes vacant (due to the death of a member), the House shall decide by ballot whether to appoint a new member. If so, the office shall propose a date for the election of a new member; if not, the matter shall be reconsidered after six months. The election shall be by secret ballot.

The first Vietnamese scientist elected to the French Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts was the late Professor Phan Huy Le. Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong is the second Vietnamese scientist to be elected.

Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong is also one of two Asian representatives on the current list of corresponding academicians of the institute. The other is Professor Matsumura Takeshi, University of Tokyo, Japan, elected in 2019, at the age of 59.

The French Embassy in Vietnam, when sharing this event on its fanpage on October 27, wrote: "The election of Associate Professor Nguyen Tuan Cuong to the position of foreign correspondent member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts demonstrates France's recognition of the talent and scientific achievements of a Vietnamese scholar, with truly important research work."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-viet-nam-thu-2-duoc-bau-vao-vien-han-lam-van-khac-va-my-van-phap-185251110113147516.htm