The autumn semester is well underway at the Centre, with new students and researchers, an active events programme, and several opportunities coming up during the term. We are also already looking ahead to a special occasion next spring: the Centre’s 30th anniversary.
We are delighted to welcome two new Visiting PhD Research Fellows.
Yuwen (Camilla) Pan, a PhD candidate in Sociology at University College Dublin, will stay with us until June 2027. Her research examines modernisation in contemporary China through “mediating institutions” where citizens, markets and the state interact and negotiate change. Her dissertation focuses on gated communities, family planning and fan-led activism.
Xiaerwanimu (Christina) Nuermaimaiti, a PhD candidate at Beijing Foreign Studies University, will stay until July 2027. Her research focuses on the Gunnar Jarring Collection at Lund University. Drawing on her knowledge of Uyghur, Uzbek and Chinese, she studies early twentieth-century Uyghur manuscripts through philological, sociolinguistic and ethnographic perspectives.
We are also pleased to have Hanna Sahlberg with us for a shorter research stay to make use of our unique Asia Library. Hanna is a journalist at Sveriges Radio with extensive experience covering China, including several years as the broadcaster’s correspondent in Beijing.
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We are very happy to welcome Shan Hei Anna Ting as a new doctoral student at the Centre. Anna is a former student on our Master’s Programme in Asian Studies and graduated in 2025. Her MA thesis examined identity among young Hongkongers and how history, culture and migration shape personal and collective identification.
Her doctoral project, Resistance under abeyance: everyday pro-democracy engagement in Hong Kong’s digital sphere, explores how political engagement and pro-democracy sentiments are sustained in contemporary Hong Kong, particularly through social media and other forms of everyday resistance.
The new academic year also gives us reason to celebrate our MA students. Thirty students graduated from the Master’s Programme in Asian Studies this year, and 37 new students started the programme this autumn. |
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Our Perspective Asia Lecture Series has already begun. We opened the semester with a screening of Blood Berries, followed by a discussion with director Hathairat Phaholtap.
Today, 16 September, we host The Long Arc of Queer Activism in Modern Japan: Pasts, Present, and Futures.
Next, on 22 September, Chenchen Zhang from Durham University will speak on Easting the West: Theorizing the Postliberal Conjuncture from China.
Later in the semester, on 26 November, the series turns to Japanese environmental activism with Three Protest Waves in Japanese Environmentalism: Ashio, Minamata, and Fukushima.
More events will be added during the term, so please keep an eye on our calendar. |
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Next year marks the Centre’s 30th anniversary.
From 3–5 May 2027, we will celebrate with an alumni event and mingle, lectures on Asian Studies, and a PhD conference.
We especially hope that former students will return to Lund. Why not come for the weekend, reconnect with the city and meet former classmates at our Alumni Day on Monday, 3 May?
More information will follow. |
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During Kulturnatten on 19 September, we will be in the LUX foyer from 15:00 to 18:00, inviting visitors to try their hand at origami. We will also be serving Asian sweets to enjoy while you fold, and if you're feeling curious, you can take part in our Asia quiz or chat with us about Asian Studies.
We look forward to being part of the Faculty of Humanities and Theology's wider Kulturnatten programme and hope you will stop by to say hello and join us for an afternoon of creativity and conversation. |
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In a recent article in Tidningen Curie, Marina Svensson argues for long-term investment in Swedish knowledge about China. Her central point is that strong China expertise requires sustained support for language training, research and academic environments – not only short-term responses to current political developments. Read the article here
Her argument is reinforced by a recent report from the Swedish National China Centre (NKK), which highlights weaknesses in Swedish China competence, including limited advanced language training, lower student mobility to China and fewer China-related doctoral dissertations in the humanities and social sciences than a decade ago. The report can be read here (PDF).
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The Graduate School in Asian Studies has several PhD courses coming up.
This autumn, Critical Perspectives on East and South-East Asian Studies examines the development and continuing relevance of area studies. Application deadline: 1 November 2026.
Applications are also open for Research Ethics and Fieldwork in an Authoritarian Context, with a workshop in Lund on 16–17 February 2027. Application deadline: 15 November 2026.
More information can be found here. |
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Applications are now open for the second year of the Nordic–Lund Emerging Scholars Teaching Program in Korean Studies (NEST), supported by the Yang Won Sun Foundation.
The four-week fellowship gives early-career scholars working on Korea the opportunity to gain teaching experience, give a public lecture and build networks at Lund and a Nordic partner university.
Late-stage PhD candidates and scholars who completed their PhD within the past five years are welcome to apply.
Application deadline: 30 September 2026.
Further information is found here. |
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We hope to see many of you at the Centre during the semester – and perhaps again in Lund for our 30th anniversary next May.
Stay in touch and perhaps see you at the Centre!
All the best,
Stefan
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