SEASIA holds first international conference (12 and 13 December 2015)

On 12-13 December, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) hosted SEASIA 2015, the first international conference organized by the Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA). The consortium was established in October 2013 by CSEAS and seven other Asian institutes in order to promote research in Asia in the field of Southeast Asian studies. The event, which marked SEASIA's international debut, was held in commemoration of CSEAS's 50th anniversary and with support from five organizations: the Japan Foundation, the Resona Foundation for Asia and Oceania, Nanyang Technological University, the Japanese Society for Asian Studies, and the Kyoto University Foundation.

SEASIA currently consists of 10 leading area-studies institutes based in Northeast and Southeast Asia, with CSEAS serving as its secretariat and Japanese center.

In the opening ceremony, which took place at the Kyoto International Conference Center, President Juichi Yamagiwa of Kyoto University and Professor Sunait Chutintaranond, Chairperson of SEASIA's Governing Board, delivered welcome addresses, followed by speeches by former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Mr Masaya Shimoyama, Managing Director of the Japan Foundation's Asia Center. Two keynote addresses followed, one by Professor Wang Gungwu of the National University of Singapore and the other by Professor Pasuk Phongpaichit of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, both of which engaged the audience.

The two-day conference included 492 research presentations spanning 79 sessions, each of which sparked lively discussion. With some 530 people participating from 27 countries, including 10 ASEAN nations and East Timor, SEASIA 2015 became one of the largest gatherings ever for local initiatives that promote Southeast Asian studies.

Some of the studies presented at the conference will be made available online as part of SEASIA's working paper series. There are also plans to compile selected works by theme and include them in future volumes of Kyoto CSEAS Series on Asian Studies , as well as to submit them for publication in the journal Southeast Asian Studies .

Related link

• Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies in Asia (SEASIA)
  http://seasia-consortium.org/