Events

CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: 15 JULY 2026

The Asian Civilisations Museum in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute, Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore), the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Dunhuang Foundation, will host a three-day international conference in Singapore from 8 to 10 January 2027. The conference will be held in conjunction with the special exhibition, Sacred Caves: Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road, at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

This conference seeks to advance new scholarship on Dunhuang as a dynamic node of transregional exchange, situating it within broader networks of Buddhist, artistic, and intellectual circulation across Asia and beyond. While highlighting recent research on this UNESCO World Heritage site, the conference also aims to rethink Dunhuang’s place within a wider Buddhist world by foregrounding its global connections—across regions, media, and historical periods.

We invite paper proposals that engage with Dunhuang from interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. Topics that are of special interest are:

• Dunhuang site-based studies, including archaeology, material culture, and conservation
• Dunhuang manuscripts, texts, and literary cultures
• Dunhuang’s connections with Asia and the broader Indian Ocean world
• Transmission of ideas, practices, and iconographies through Dunhuang
• Histories of collecting and dispersal of Dunhuang materials
• Curation and stewardship of Dunhuang and related material cultures
• Contemporary engagements with Dunhuang in museums, galleries, and digital humanities projects

We particularly encourage proposals that offer new conceptual, methodological, or comparative perspectives on Dunhuang and its global significance.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract of up to 500 words, clearly outlining the argument, sources, methodologies, and the paper’s contribution, including how it advances new perspectives on Dunhuang in the world, a brief personal biography of approximately 150 words, and a 2-page CV.

All submissions must be completed using the online form by 15 July 2026. If selected as a workshop presenter, you will be required to submit a draft paper (between 3,000 and 5,000 words) by 15 December  2026. These draft papers will be shared with fellow speakers and chairpersons in advance of the workshop; please note that they do not need to be fully polished.

We are pleased to offer either full or partial airfare funding to our international participants, along with four nights of accommodation in Singapore. We kindly ask that you specify your funding requirements when completing the proposal form.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Professor Tansen Sen at tansen.sen@nyu.edu.

CONFERENCE CONVENOR

Prof Tansen SEN | National University of Singapore,  New York University & NYU Shanghai