Haus Villigst in Schwerte, Germany
18-19th Jul 2026
Deadline: 10th July
The “Iserlohner Kreis” is a loose circle of young social scientists working on China. Our annual workshop will be held from 18 to 19 July 2026 at Haus Villigst in Schwerte, Germany. This year, our discussion will centre on new directions and evolving approaches in Chinese Studies.
The workshop aims at young scholars looking to discuss their master’s theses, dissertations and habilitations as well as their completed or ongoing research projects, applications and academic articles in an informal setting. Beyond social science research on the Sinophone world, we also particularly welcome interdisciplinary work. Participants may present thematic trends and new findings from their own projects, their work on theoretical categorisations and practical methodology as well as related challenges. The workshop is intended as a platform for specific problems and receiving constructive peer feedback.
We are looking forward to a diverse range of contributions! To facilitate networking among young sinology scholars, participation without a presentation is also possible.
The registration deadline is 30 April. Please email your completed registration form (see below), including the topic of your presentation and a short abstract of up to 500 words via https://forms.gle/fwe61AnncnUjf1yr5. We will circulate workshop invitations by 15 May. We also ask you to please submit a paper of no more than five pages by 10 July. Talks will be about twenty minutes, followed by a twenty-minute discussion.
There are no workshop fees and we would like to thank the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the Institut für Kirche und Gesellschaft in Schwerte for their support.
We are happy to answer any remaining questions you might have! iserlohner.kreis@web.de
Organisation team (in alphabetical order):
Felix Brender 王哲謙 Project Associate, LSE IDEAS (London School of Economics); Senior Faculty Lecturer, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Matthias Hackler Parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament Brussels
Ryanne Flock Senior Researcher Julius-Maximilians- Universität Würzburg
Tin Ching Leung Independent Policy Researcher
Sophia Schnermann PhD Candidate Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Grete Schönebeck PhD Candidate Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/ Main
Please visit us at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iserlohner-kreis-ba68202aa/
If you would like to register by email, please contact: iserlohner.kreis@web.de.
Download this announcement’s official PDF: