Events and Seminars

Term Times Seminar Series

Call for Papers: UCL Centre for Central and East Asian Studies – Seminar Series 2025–26

The Centre for Central and East Asian Studies invites paper proposals for its monthly seminar series, held during Terms I, II, and III of the 2025–26 academic year.

We welcome papers from historians, social scientists, and area specialists whose work engages with:

• Borderlands, frontier zones, and transregional networks
• Multilingual sources and comparative historiographies
• Underrepresented regions and communities in national or imperial narratives
• Digital, quantitative, and methodological innovations
• Non-European epistemologies and global approaches to the Central and East Asian past

The seminar provides a collegial forum for sharing work-in-progress as well as more developed research. Sessions are held online or in person in London, with hybrid participation available as needed.

Please send a brief abstract (300 words), along with a short bio, to cceasuk@gmail.com. Proposals are considered on a rolling basis.

2025-2026 Workshop

Call for Paper

Workshop: Qing China in Global Perspectives
5–6 June 2026 | UCL History Department | London

The Centre for Central and East Asian Studies, invites paper proposals for a two-day workshop on Qing China in Global Perspectives, to be held on 5–6 June 2026, hosted by the UCL History Department. Professor Cameron Campbell (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) will deliver the keynote lecture.

We welcome contributions that combine historical evidence with analytical, quantitative, or comparative approaches to Qing China. Papers that connect Qing history to broader questions in political economy, development, and long-run institutional change are particularly encouraged.

Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

• State capacity, taxation, and fiscal institutions in comparative perspective
• Market integration, trade networks, and factor mobility within and beyond the Qing empire
• Human capital, social mobility, and examination systems as mechanisms of selection and incentive
• The political economy of empire, governance, and public goods provision
• Qing borderlands, frontiers, and transnational entanglements (Tibetan Religion, Turkic sources)
• Circulation of goods, ideas, and technologies across Asia and beyond
• Methodological innovation, including the use of digital archives, quantitative analysis, and large language models

The workshop is free of charge.

Format: Each participant will pre-circulate a short paper (c. 3,000–5,000 words) to be discussed in a seminar-style setting over two days. 

Submission: Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words with a short bibliography and a brief CV (1–2 pages) by 1 December 2025. Successful applicants will be notified by January 2026. Email: cceasuk@gmail.com

We look forward to bringing together a diverse group of scholars for two days of discussion and exchange in London.

Centre for Central and East Asian Studies, steering committee in alphabetic order: Prof. Georgina Brewis (IOE, UCL), Dr. Jennifer Bond (IOE, UCL), Prof. Kent Deng (Economic History, LSE), Dr. Lars Laamann (History, SOAS), Dr. Melanie Meng Xue (Economic History, LSE), Dr. Nora Yitong Qiu (Department of History, UCL)