IAR MAPPSSA Graduate Student Conference

Dear professors, graduate advisers, program secretaries, and especially graduate students,

The University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research is sending out a call for papers for its annual graduate student conference, to be held on Thursday, March 17th - Friday, March 18th, 2011. The Institute of Asian Research conference is conducted by graduate students from the Masters of Arts in Asia Pacific Policy Studies (http://www.iar.ubc.ca/mapps). We greatly appreciate your help in distributing this message to your graduate students, and anyone else who may be interested in submitting papers for our symposium. Our conference aims to facilitate scholarly exchange within the academic community, and we especially encourage submissions from our international peers in the Asia-Pacific.

The Call
The 2011 Asia Pacific Policy Graduate Symposium, Transnational Policies: Connecting the Asia Pacific will seek to examine current and future policy implications in the Asia Pacific region. Although our theme deals with transnational policies, it can also apply to domestic issues that have international implications. As a graduate symposium we are hoping this event will allow students to deepen their knowledge, both inside and outside their fields of interest, as well as enhance their experience as presenters and participants in a conference setting. The critical evaluation of your research by peers and professors at the Institute of Asian Research will be tremendously beneficial for those trying to improve their research methods. This symposium should also be viewed as an excellent opportunity to network with like-minded scholars in various fields related to the Asia Pacific from North America and across Asia. Prospective presenters may have the possibility of being published in the e-journal of the College for Interdisciplinary Studies (CFIS) and the Asia Pacific Memo (see http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/). This is a general call for graduate students from relevant disciplines to act as:

1. Paper presenters for the symposium
2. Participants who will actively discuss about presented papers

The symposium is interested in building discussions on transnational Asia-Pacific policy issues. Students in all fields are encouraged to demonstrate the policy significance of their work. We are currently exploring the use of various types of presentation styles (e.g. round-table discussions, panel discussions). The possible topics for these presentations might include, but are not limited to:

- Gender Issues
- Development
- Health
- Security
- Economics and Social Change
- Governance and Human Rights
- Media

The Submission
Those interested in participating, either as presenters and/or participants, should complete the attached submission form and send it to iar.conference@gmail.com. The pdf file can be saved using "Adobe Acrobat Reader" (8 or above) for windows users (updated versions can be found at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html) and can be saved using "Preview" for mac users. Please ensure that submissions are written in English and consist of only a 300 word abstract. The application deadline is Friday, January 14th, 2011. Decisions will be communicated by mid-February.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at iar.conference@gmail.com with any questions or concerns. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

The IAR Conference Committee
http://www.iar.ubc.ca/mapps/mappssaconference.aspx