Date: Wednesday, 11th June

Time: All-day event

Venue: Edgbaston Park Hotel Conference Centre, University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham's Asia Research Group and the University of Warwick's East Asia Study Group will be holding a joint all-day in-person workshop on Wednesday 11th June. The theme will be The Challenges of the Contemporary Indo-Pacific. Challenges are broadly defined and we welcome papers on security, economics, society, the environment, gender, and the everyday. The workshop has two aims: generating academic discussion on the region from which potentially new collaborations/research projects can be inspired; and providing an opportunity for colleagues with work in-progress to get feedback. These aims are not mutually exclusive, nor particularly unique to our workshop, but to more clearly cater to the needs of the presenters, there will be two routes for presentation submissions. Route one, the first 'standard one', will require only a title and abstract, and will be more aligned to the first aim; and route two, the 'work-in-progress' one, will include a title and abstract, but you will also have the opportunity to include a short list of points/questions, about which you are specifically looking for feedback. Depending on the submissions received, we could well drop the former or latter format entirely, but for now, this is the approach we are taking, and individuals are encouraged to opt for whichever route they think is most suitable. Proposals from colleagues, PhDs, and MAs (working on their dissertations) are welcome.

This workshop is for academics at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick. Warwick academics will be able to receive financial support to attend the event being held at the University of Birmingham (with University of Birmingham funding). Nevertheless, obviously academics in the broader West Midlands/Midlands region are welcome, as are those from further afield, but we will be unable to provide any financial support to cover their attendance. However, tea, coffee, and lunch will be provided free of charge.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 5th May, and they should be mailed directly to both Max and Julie (max.a.q.warrack@warwick.ac.uk and j.a.gilson@bham.ac.uk), please make sure we are both cc'd in your email. In your email, please attach your abstract (and list of questions if you are taking route two) as a word document and make clear in the email if you submitting under route one or route two. Similarly, if there are specific time constraints, i.e., you can only attend for the afternoon, but not the morning (or vice versa) please make that clear in the email so we can organise accordingly. If you do not wish to present anything, but would still like to attend to participate in the discussion/advice/free lunch, please contact the same email address to let us know. This is so we can keep track of numbers and order sufficient refreshments/lunch.

The official programme will be decided after all submissions have been received, and will be made available on Friday 16th May.

The bigger aim of this workshop is to generate further momentum for more collaborations between our groups and universities on Asia, and hopefully this event will become an annual one, with an expanded audience. We hope to see many of you there.