International Institute for Asian Studies

The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a postdoctoral research centre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our main objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia and to promote national and international cooperation in the field. The institute focuses on the human and social sciences and on their interaction with other sciences.

The Institute
The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a postdoctoral research centre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. IIAS was jointly established in 1993 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Leiden University, the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). Its main office is located at Leiden University. IIAS has a branch office in Amsterdam at the University of Amsterdam. The permanent staff is responsible for the coordination, organisation and administration of the activities of IIAS. The Director answers to a Board, made up of academics in the field of Asian studies.

IIAS objective is to encourage the multi-disciplinary and comparative study of Asia and to promote national and international cooperation. Its research focus is on urbanisation, heritage and globalisation, but IIAS is always open to new ideas for other important research topics. IIAS hosts many postdoctoral researchers (fellows) in Asian Studies, who are selected by an academic committee on the basis of merit, quality, and available resources.

IIAS acts as an international mediator, bringing various parties together. In keeping with the Dutch tradition of transferring goods and ideas, IIAS works as a clearinghouse of knowledge and information. This entails activities such as providing information services, constructing international networks and setting up international cooperative projects and research programmes. In this way, IIAS functions as a window on Europe for non-European scholars and contributes to the cultural rapprochement between Asia and Europe. IIAS organizes seminars, workshops and conferences as well as outreach activities for the general public. It publishes an internationally renowned newsletter, and supports various academic publication series. It operates a comprehensive database containing information about researchers and institutes in the field of Asian Studies in Europe and world-wide. At a broader level, IIAS strives to link up with other groups in society, including business people, civil society organisations, policy makers, and the media with the purpose of making expertise on Asia available to non-academic organizations.

IIAS considers (academic) cooperation indispensable to top-level research and public service. In the present environment of globalisation, the distinctive national traditions of research and scholarship need to be brought together into complementary partnerships with the aim of enhancing their relevance. IIAS therefore works closely together with national and international strategic partners to set up new research projects and networks. IIAS plays a strategic and leading role as initiator and lead partner of a number of institutional networks, including the "Leiden Consortium for Asian Studies", the "European Alliance for Asian Studies" and the "International Convention of Asian Scholars". Besides the promotion, facilitation and initiation of academic cooperation, IIAS also seeks to collaborate with cultural, social and political organisations in Asia or with Asia as their focus.