Elo Süld took part at the annual Nordic Institute of Asian Studies conference

The annual Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) conference took place last week. NIAS is an association that includes the centres focused on Asian studies in the indicated region. Since the spring of this year, several universities of the Baltic countries, including the University of Tartu, have become associated members of NIAS. The conference was attended by Elo Süld, head of the Asia Center, whose presence there is symbolic for several reasons.

The conference titled "Generation Asia" held at the University of Iceland was opened by the country's president and history professor Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson. The latter emphasized the necessity of language learning in his speech. More precisely, he said that the development of technology does not lead to language awareness and specifics worth keeping and studying. Süld moderated the panel "Indonesian telephone generation: digital religiosity and new political output", which was held in cooperation with the University of Airlangga (Indonesia). Ratih Puspa, Rifan Wahyudi, Angga Prawadika and Nisa Kurnia Illahiati presented the research results in the panel.

Representative of the University of Tartu participated in the conference for the first time. Since becoming an associated member, the universities of the Baltic States have been able to participate in a cross-disciplinary network, which supports the development of doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows focused on Asian studies with grants and scholarships. The doctoral school was also part of the conference, where in addition to the students' research work, the focus was on their coping and empowerment in the academic world.