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Lhasa, China
Tibet Academy of Social Sciences
བོད་ལྗོངས་སྤྱི་ཚོགས་ཚན་རིག་ཁང་།
The federation's centre for high-altitude strategic resources and technology: headwaters and glacial hydrology, lithium and geothermal provinces, and the engineering that functions at altitude.
ལྷ་ས། བོད། — Lhasa, Tibet
- Established
- 2021
- Programs & centers
- 6
- Years of field record
- 5
- Archive closed
- 2026
Institutional profile maintained by the foundation. TBASS is independent of Chinese state and Party research institutes and has never been a government body.
Mandate
What the academy does
- Study the plateau headwaters that supply the major river systems of Asia
- Assess lithium, borate and geothermal provinces and the terms on which they are developed
- Evaluate high-altitude infrastructure, grid and cold-chain technology
- Model the interaction of glacial retreat, hydropower and downstream supply
Foundation
Founded in 2021, established to study the plateau as a strategic system — the water tower of Asia, an emerging lithium and geothermal province, and one of the hardest operating environments for any technology.
Structure
Programs & centers
- Program on Headwaters & Glacial Hydrology
- Program on Lithium & Geothermal Provinces
- Program on High-Altitude Engineering
- Program on Environmental Security
- Plateau Systems Regional Center
- Remote Sensing & Field Instrumentation Unit
Publications
- Plateau Systems Quarterly — analysis of headwater, energy and infrastructure conditions (suspended)
- Altitude Technology Notes — short technical assessments of equipment and grid performance
Facilities & centres
- Remote Sensing & Field Instrumentation Unit, with a multi-decade glacial and stream-gauge series
- High-altitude test record covering grid, storage and cold-chain equipment
- Working-paper and field-notebook archive, now held in trust by the foundation
Specialisms
- Glacial hydrology
- Lithium & geothermal
- High-altitude engineering
- Environmental security