About the European Alliance for Asian Studies

The European Alliance for Asian Studies is a co-operative platform of European institutions specializing in the study of Asia. The aim of the Alliance, established in 1997, is to bring together the varied competences and expertise on Asia and Asian Studies found in Europe,  strengthening this rich and unique tapestry of academic endeavour found in the region. The Alliance, moreover, facilitates a multi-level communication channel between its members, while it sets out to raise public awareness on the scholarly excellence they offer to the benefit of their constituencies and national and transnational environments.

The Alliance represents a community of institutions sharing a desire for transparency, collegiality and solidarity beyond national, institutional or disciplinary boundaries. It encourages collaborations, synergies and intellectual emulation among European academic institutions involved in Asian studies and in collaboration with partners from Asia and the rest of the world.

The Alliance seeks to build high-quality border-transcending research, teaching and public services, including scholarly networks within Europe and beyond. It also encourages linkage between academic and non-academic actors, aiming to develop a model of how Asian studies in European academia could respond to political, economic and heuristic shifts and contexts.

The Alliance is not intended to merge the respective institutes, or blur their individual strengths, but rather to provide a framework for co-operation. Partners in the Alliance use the multiplicity of approaches, expertise and connectivities present in the network to strengthen research, teaching, collaboration and outreach.

Such a dynamic network works on various scales of expertise: (1) institutions based on policy-oriented research and competence; (2) institutions that seek to apply their Asia expertise beyond single locations and university frameworks, and (3) institutions combining research and teaching Asian studies with an emphasis on humanistic and linguistic knowledge.

Members of the Alliance

As of February 2018, the European Alliance for Asian Studies includes the Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (CEAO); Università di Torino; the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS), Heidelberg; Institute of the Middle and Far East (IBiDW UJ) at Jagiellonian University, Kraków; the Groupement d'Intérêt scientifique Études asiatiques (GIS Réseau Asie), Paris; Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA), Lisboa; the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg; the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden; Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau (CCCM), Lisboa; Palacký University, Olomouc; the Institut Roman de Studii Euro-Asiatice, Bucharest; the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies, Lund University; the School of Oriental and African Studies, London; and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen.

New partners

As an inclusive platform of institutions of different sizes and specialisations, the Alliance is open to new partners, seeking to work together to achieve its objectives. Through its rotating annual meetings at partner institutes and other joint activities, new partners, be they small or large, have the opportunity to openly discuss their institutional plans and developments.

Website

This Alliance website, www.asiascholars.eu intends to mirror the spirit of participation and sharing of its members, providing information on conferences and calls for proposals (grants, summer schools, fellowships, positions). The website disseminates information on open access, enabling members and the public at large to construct and share knowledge and data. It is a unique vehicle to learn from the partners’ developments, their plans and their expertise.

Secretariat

The Alliance secretariat is collectively coordinated, with GIGA, IIAS and NIAS acting as its main facilitators. The three ‘founding’ institutions provide additional coordinating oversight by organizing interim meetings, publicity, and managing the Alliance’s website.