Fwd: a proposed symposium: East Asian studies in the Baltic Sea region

“East Asian studies in the Baltic Sea region: development and prospects for future”

Dear Colleagues,

I am Arvydas Kumpis from Centre for Asian studies at Vytautas Magnus university (Kaunas, Lithuania). I hope you are doing fine during this ongoing period of uncertainty. With this letter I am inviting you to participate in a one week-long symposium under provisional title “East Asian studies in the Baltic Sea region: development and prospects for future”. The symposium is scheduled from February 28 to March 6, 2022.

According to the interim plan of the symposium, it will encompass several activities: · First of all, we will share our experiences and practices regarding the organization and development of East Asian studies. This will be done in discussions and workshops.

· Second part of symposium is dedicated to the conference “A century of connections: historical ties between the Baltic and East Asia regions” (March 4-5, 2022). Presenting a paper is optional, the Call for papers will start later this year.

· Third part will be completed via remote activities. This will be done after the symposium is finished and will include the summarization of previous activities and providing feedback to the participants.

A more detailed program will be announced at a later stage after gathering ideas from potential participants.

Since this symposium will be organized using Erasmus support, we need to include the remote activities as well. Erasmus Blended Intensive Programme (BLIP) will be the financial basis for the symposium. The financial part Erasmus BLIP provides a platform for various activities which will be covered by Erasmus financial support. That means, the participants coming to the symposium will get 70€ a day for accommodation and other daily expenses. The symposium will be free of charge. To apply for the support, you need to inform your institutional Erasmus coordinator about being invited to the activity. Deadlines The initial phase of the application is approaching very soon and we need to know your opinionuntil May 7 (this Friday). Most importantly, no particular names need to be given at the moment, only the number of participants. Also, there are no specific forms to be filled. If you or your colleagues find this symposium interesting, please, let us know. Any responses after May 7 will not be included in the application. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Dr. Arvydas Kumpis (Mr.) Vytautas Magnus University Senior coordinator at Centre for Asian Studies Lecturer at the Department for Cultural studies asc.vdu.lt | fb.com/asc.vdu Tel.: +370 37 331 323 mob. +370 691 85778 V. Putvinskio 23-417, 44243 Kaunas, LITHUANIA