General

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic teaching will be online in January but is expected to continue to be on campus during the rest of the spring semester. Since there exist some uncertainties, and we expect travel restrictions to continue, public events will be online in the beginning of the year with the exception of guest lectures from Sweden and the Nordic countries. This work plan is thus preliminary and subject to change depending on how the situation develops. Researchers’ ability to conduct fieldwork and participate in international conferences also continue to be uncertain.

The Centre will continue to reach out to students and staff at Lund University and ensure visibility of the Centre and its research, education, and events through participation in different events, such as the Sustainability Week, and publishing information about Centre events in the HT newsletter and on other platforms. Due to the pandemic, a heavy workload, and the recent growth of the Centre, development of a new strategic plan had to ben postponed but work will continue during 2022. The Centre is also planning for a writing retreat for its researchers in 2022.

Education

The Centre will continue its work to strengthen student recruitment through marketing on different platforms and in different contexts, for example through collaboration with the Foreign Policy Association. It will in particular focus on marketing its range of BA level courses to undergraduate students as well as market its two new MA level courses.

The Centre will continue its work to strengthen collaboration with partner institutes in East and South-East Asia for students who want to do fieldwork in the region.

It is important for the Centre to continue to apply for funding for developing and supporting education and courses at the BA level. The Centre will also further develop its alumni network and organize a new alumni event in the fall.

Ph.D. education

The Centre currently has three Ph.D. students and will announce two new positions for 2022. It will continue to host visiting Ph.D. students whenever possible and explore other possibilities to strengthen networking among PhD candidates working on the region in Sweden, including exploring the possibility to develop a research school.

Networking, visiting scholars, and collaborations

The Centre will continue to strengthen its research seminar series where visiting scholars, staff and other scholars in Lund can present their research. It will also organise a network event to discuss research on East and South-East Asia at Lund University.

The Centre is also involved in strengthening the Lund University Human Rights hub and will be involved in developing a new university wide profile area focusing on human rights.

The Centre will continue to develop its international network, including its membership of the NIAS NNC council and the European Alliance for Asian Studies.

Further networking with selected Asian studies centres in both Europe and East and South-East Asia will be explored. Conditions permitting, visits to relevant institutions, for example in Singapore and Korea, will be undertaken to further explore collaboration. In addition, the Centre will work to develop closer ties with the Nordic Centre at Fudan University.

The Centre will continue to accept visiting scholars for shorter stays in order to further strengthen networking and collaboration.

Research

The Centre is nominating a candidate for a Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Academic fellowship, and similar initiatives will be undertaken during 2022. Further support and encouragement for research applications will be discussed throughout the year.

Public events and visibility

The Centre will continue to organise open lectures on timely topics with invited scholars. During the spring this includes events on ethnic Chinese identities in Indonesia, food and food sovereignty in South-East Asia, the Chinese Communist Party as a Global Force, religion in Japan, environmental issues in East and South-East Asia, and much more.

The Centre is also planning several other events and workshops, including a workshop on visual research, a conference on religion, gender and labour, a workshop on gender and transnational activism in China, and a film festival (postponed due to the pandemic).

The Centre continues its cooperation with the Foreign Policy Association with 1-2 events each semester.