Theme: Reimagining our Shared Future

This year is the 21st year of the International Graduate Student Conference (IGSC) taking place February 17-20th, 2022. The East-West Center (EWC) is inviting graduate students and young professionals from around the world to submit abstracts relating to the Asia Pacific region. The conference will provide an opportunity to share interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary perspectives formally, through presenting and attending panel presentations, and informally, through networking with scholars and community members across disciplines in the warm and collaborative environment of the EWC.

A long-standing goal of the EWC has been to promote collaborative and mutually-beneficial partnerships between communities and scholars. Much of our research is rooted in the collective knowledge, insight, and years of effort contributed by communities, organizations, and experts across the Asia-Pacific region. Even so, academic findings can often end up limited to scholars and experts, which leads to a greater knowledge gap between researchers and working professionals. Therefore, innovative types of communication and partnership are needed to promote research understanding and community interaction.

​​This year the conference theme is "Reimagining our Shared Future." With emergent challenges at the planetary level, ranging from environmental issues, rising inequalities, poverty, ideological polarization, to a global pandemic, it is essential to reimagine a more just and sustainable future for all on our shared planet Earth. These issues prompt renewed attention to the entire ecosystem—living beings and nonliving things—that form the basis of life on Earth. This includes but is not limited to humans, animals, plants, inanimate objects, elements, energy, systems and structures.  

Besides producing new knowledge and innovative solutions, emerging scholars’ responsibilities may also include revisiting ancient or indigenous knowledge concerning the human or non-human world that crosses a multiplicity of disciplines to address the contemporary issues on Earth. Thus, IGSC 2022 invites contributions across a wide range of disciplines that 

(1) aim to contribute to the sharing and advancement of the multiple knowledges, epistemologies, and ontologies of the Asia-Pacific region, and 

(2) reimagine theory, practice, and policy for a more just and sustainable shared future. 

We also invite artistic expressions that utilize alternative methods for reimagining the world we live in. 

We especially welcome (but are not limited to) interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary contributions, and research that applies non-Western, decolonial, post-colonial, and indigenous lenses. 

​​For any inquiries or questions regarding the conference, please connect with us at [email protected].

The IGSC Frequently Asked Questions pages contain comprehensive information regarding the conference, including abstract submission, registration and fees, and guidelines for presenters.