The Lyons Institute of East Asian Studies (IAO) is a centre for research in human and social sciences. It brings together scholars from fields such as anthropology, law, economics, geography, history, literature, philosophy and political sciences. The primary focus of their work is East and South-East Asia, especially China, Korea, Japan, Laos, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Objectives, research projects and academic events

The IAO’s primary objective is to foster the output of academic studies and publications that will contribute to greater knowledge of the cultural, social, economic and political dynamics at work in East and South-East Asia.

The Institute conducts both intra-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research on environmental issues, and technological and institutional innovation. It works closely with research teams in Asia, North America and Europe through exchange programs in the form of seminars and workshops.

At the same time, the Institute disseminates similar research from other centres around the world to local scholars and students at the University of Lyons as well as to the wider public. This is done through research seminars, exhibitions and other scientific and cultural events.

Documentary resources and training through research

Under its research programmes, the IAO places documentary resources (the IAO Asian Language collections at the Bibliothèque Diderot as well as online resources) at the disposal of the academic community. It also develops tools for data viewing and analysis, especially under the Virtual cities programme, using geographical information systems.

The IAO gives expert guidance and support to students preparing Ph.Ds and Master’s degrees, especially Master’s in Contemporary East Asian Studies and Chinese Studies at the Lyons Ecole Nationale Supérieure and the Master of History degree at the University of Lyons 2.

Training

With a wealth of experience and expertise to offer in Asian studies, the Lyons Institute of East Asian Studies (IAO) is fully committed to training for research. Eight members of our team are qualified and accredited directors of Ph. D theses. The activity of our research team revolves around a monthly research seminar, doctoral workshops and symposiums.

Since Autumn 2009, the IAO has bolstered its position in high-level doctoral training through a joint PhD programme organised with the University of Tohoku in Japan under the latter’s ambitious Global Center of Excellence project. The IAO is also heavily involved in the training of doctoral students under an agreement between the Ecole Normale Supérieure schools in Lyons, Cachan and Ulm and the East China Normal University (Shanghai). IAO members also sit on dissertation committees at Stanford and UC Berkeley and on PhD examination juries in many other countries.