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The ANU Centre for Korean Studies will hold the First Korean Graduate Studies Conference during Asia Pacific Week. This will be an annual event, modelled to some degree on the Harvard Korea Institute's Annual Graduate Student Conference, but it will cater primarily for graduate students of Korean Studies in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast and East Asia. Ken Wells, Convenor of the ANU Centre for Korean Studies, estimates that about 22 graduate students and 10 established Korean Studies academics will attend. The conference will extend for two days and will be scheduled to coordinate with the ANU Asia Pacific Week events. In this way, Korean Studies will be given very good publicity and will attract a good deal of notice from academics and community leaders around Australia.
Professor Wells will chair this conference in his capacity as Convenor of the ANU Centre for Korean Studies and holder of the Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies. At the ANU, the conference will be supported administratively by the National Institute for Asia and the Pacific.
The aims of the Korean Graduate Studies Conference are: (a) to provide a forum for graduate students devoted to the study of Korea to share their findings in a supportive and encouraging environment; and (b) to promote scholarly interest in Korea in Australia and the region.
In support of the first aim, the Conference will include the following elements.
In regard to the second aim, the holding of this Conference in conjunction with the ANU Asia Pacific Week activities is the most important element.
The Korean Studies graduate students and academic specialists who attend our Conference will be encouraged to join in these activities, so that Korean studies and expertise is given a strong profile and is viewed as an integral and important part of the wider Asian studies community. Indeed, the opportunities offered Korean Studies by scheduling our Conference alongside the ANU Asia Pacific Week activities, are considerable and timely. For too long, Korean Studies in the Australasian region have worked in relative isolation from the other Asian studies areas and have suffered loss of visibility and partnership in some of the major advances made by Asian studies generally in the region. Now that the Korea Foundation Chair of Korean Studies has been emplaced in the ANU, the time has come to take a strong lead in promoting Korean Studies as a vibrant academic enterprise.
The Korean Graduate Studies Conference will be organised by the ANU Centre for Korean Studies, in close cooperation with the National Institute for Asia and the Pacific and its Asia Pacific Week activities. These activities will spread through the week beginning 1 February 2004, and will include keynote addresses by leading academics, events informing people of the various programs on Asia, events participated in by embassies, government organisations and the business community, and various symposia and workshops on the region.
The Korean Graduate Studies Conference will be somewhat unique among these activities. It will involve more people than other areas and will include presentations by graduate students and scholars from beyond the shores of Australia. It will be a 2-day event organised into area and disciplinary panels, covering the humanities and social sciences. We expect 16 participants from Australia and New Zealand and 10 participants from Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. The Conference will be advertised and promoted by the Asia Week organizers, so that we can plan on more than 50 persons attending the presentations on Korea.
Professor Ken Wells,
Convenor of the ANU Centre for Korean Studies
Faculty of Asian Studies
ANU
(02) 6125 3181
wellsk@coombs.anu.edu.au
