Conference

Keynote speakers

• Prof. Martin Kern, Princeton University
• Prof. Anna-Lora Wainwright, Oxford University

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Call
Call for papers and abstract submissions

The conference organisers encourage presenters to submit their proposals for individual papers, panels (up to four abstracts/panel participants), double panels (up to eight abstracts/panel participants), and posters. Scholars working in all areas of Chinese Studies, both from Europe and worldwide, are warmly invited to submit proposals for contributions in one of the following disciplinary categories:

As for abstract submissions, we kindly ask you to address your questions to the organizing committee at eacs2026@unive.it.

Award
Early Career Scholar Award - ECSA (formerly Young Scholar Award - YSA)

The Board of the European Association for Chinese Studies is pleased to announce again the EACS Early Career Scholar Award (formerly Young Scholar Award). The purpose of this award is to encourage research in Chinese studies among young scholars, especially, but not exclusively, scholars studying and working at European institutions.
The Early Career Scholar Award is made possible through the generous support by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. It was first awarded during the 2004 EACS biennial conference in Heidelberg. Many papers submitted by shortlisted candidates in previous competitions have now appeared as peer-reviewed publications. The next ECSA will be announced at the 26th biennial conference in Venice.

Eligibility

Candidates for the ECSA (formerly YSA) should be PhD students working towards their degree or PhD holders who have obtained their degree no more than 10 years prior to the year of the EACS conference AND their rank of academic employment should be below that of Associate Professor or Senior Lecturer (i.e. untenured), or the equivalent ranks in other systems. Candidates whose rank changes to a tenured position after submission of the paper are kindly requested to inform the President of the committee immediately.
ECSA candidates must be registered as EACS members at the time of paper submission.

Submission

The jury welcomes papers of high scholarly promise engaging primary sources, secondary scholarship, and innovative research methodologies relevant to the field of Chinese studies.
Papers should be written in English; only single-authored papers will be accepted.
Papers should not have been previously submitted for publication.

Each applicant may submit only one paper of a maximum of 8,500 words (approximately 50,000 characters), with a one-page abstract. The word limit includes footnotes but not bibliography. The submission should include the author’s full name, institution, e-mail and postal address on a separate page. The author’s name and any other self-references should be removed in the main body of the paper as the manuscript will be assessed anonymously.
Papers submitted for the ECSA should be original in contents, structure and style. The use of artificial intelligence is only accepted in case of relevant specific research-related purposes and should be declared by the candidate and clearly acknowledged in a separate statement.

Please remember to anonymize your paper. Please pay attention to the PDF format, otherwise author information can be extracted from it. Usually, this is done in Word before the PDF is created, using the function Tools > Protect Document > Remove Personal Information.
Only complete and timely submitted applications will be considered. The three finalists will be notified around May 2026.

Awarding

The ECSA jury nominates 3 finalists who are expected to attend the 2026 EACS biennial conference in Venice in person. The three nominees receive a reimbursement of up to 800 Euros to cover their travel and accommodation expenses. At the conference, the finalists are presenting their papers during a special dedicated session. The winner of the ECSA is announced during the conference. All three finalists receive a certificate and the winner is, in addition, awarded a prize of 500 Euros. All finalists agree to commit themselves to participate in the conference and deliver their paper in person. Also, the finalists commit themselves by a signed declaration to submit their revised papers for publication in the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies (JEACS).

Candidates who have not been selected as one of the three finalists can participate in the EACS conference with the paper that was submitted for the ECSA, should they have applied for the conference. Candidates are also allowed to submit a different abstract (i.e. present a different paper if accepted) at the general conference.

Winning the ECSA (formerly YSA) is a unique and one-time experience. ECSA winners are not allowed to compete a second time.

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Venue

Location

Ca' Foscari University of Venice is an academic institution with a long history of international relations in Europe and Asia. It was founded in 1868, shortly before the Suez Canal was opened to traffic. This generated new commercial routes, and, in order to reaffirm Venice’s role as a major trading hub, it was necessary to train a new generation of entrepreneurs and diplomats, experts in international commerce and in foreign languages. At the time, it was the first and only business school in Italy and among the earliest in the whole world. Since the very beginning, Ca’ Foscari also offered a curriculum in foreign languages: initially, English, French, and German, but also Modern Greek, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and Japanese. Chinese studies were established at Ca’ Foscari in 1966.
Currently Ca’ Foscari is one of the main teaching and research institutions in this field, renowned in Italy and abroad. Currently, among the scholars in the field of Chinese studies working at Ca’ Foscari there are specialists in language and linguistics, philology, literature, translation studies, history, sociology, art and archaeology, Buddhist studies, politics, and cultural studies. Our scholars are encouraged to carry out cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research in collaboration with specialists in other subjects and fields.

Getting to Venice by plane