IAR History

Inaugurating the Choi Memorial Bell in 2003, L to R: Pitman Potter, Martha Piper, David Choi, and Frieda Granot.

The Institute for Asian Research (IAR) was founded in 1978 as a focal point for Asia-related activities on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus. Following in the spirit of the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), which was founded in the United States in 1925 to discuss relations among Pacific Rim nations, the IAR even inherited the IPR’s flagship publication, Pacific Affairs. Today, the IAR is an internationally respected hub for research, teaching, policy support and community engagement on Asia.

Let’s take a closer look at the Institute’s evolution over the past four decades:

Year Event
1970 UBC establishes the Institute of Asian and Slavonic Research to accommodate the growing number of faculty who are studying Asia and the Far East.
1977 The Chapman Committee under the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Winter Committee under the Dean of Arts agree to create an institute that deals exclusively with Asia. An interim council is created to manage the new Institute of Asian Research (IAR) and the first IAR Newsletter is issued to all those with a substantial research interest in Asia.
1978 The IAR becomes fully operational on September 1.
1978‑1979 The IAR welcomes a number of visiting scholars, hosts seminars and workshops, and organizes meetings where graduate students can discuss challenges and share information concerning Asian research.
1981 The IAR moves to six offices in the Asian Centre, which it shares with the Asian Library and the Department of Asian Studies.
The Institute is now coordinating and sponsoring interdisciplinary research, presenting lectures and seminars, organizing international conferences, hosting Asian visitors, administering the Pacific Affairs journal, publishing Asia Pacific Report, managing the Asian Centre and welcoming community cultural events.
1989‑1995 The IAR raises more than $20 million in endowments and grants through the University’s World of Opportunity Campaign—donations that are doubled by the Government of British Columbia and the University Matching Funds Program.
This new funding enables the IAR to appoint endowed chairs, provide graduate fellowships, sponsor faculty and student exchanges, acquire library materials and move into its own building.
1991 The Centres for China, Japan, Korea, India and South Asia, and Southeast Asia are created within the IAR.
1993 Chairs and executive committees for the five Centres are elected.
1995 The IAR has $5 million in endowments, 285 affiliates on and off campus, 30 visiting scholars and research associates, and more than $680,000 in research grants, contracts and awards.
1996 The IAR moves into its new home, the C. K. Choi Building, in February. The building is officially inaugurated on October 7, 1996.
1998 The Shandong Stones are installed next to the C. K. Choi Building, representing five foundational values of Confucianism — Ren (benevolence), Yi (righteousness), Li (propriety, rites), Zhi (wisdom), and Xin (trustworthiness).
2000 The IAR launches the Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Policy Studies (MAAPPS), the first graduate program in Canada to focus on contemporary policy issues in Asia.
2003 IAR hosts Tibetan Gyuto Monks as Artists in Residence between in April 2003, during their visit to UBC. The monks also met with First Nations communities, held classes for UBC students, and performed at the Chan Centre.
2003 The Choi Memorial Bell is inaugurated in tandem with an event honoring the life and legacy of benefactor Cheung-Kok Choi (1913-2003) whose generous support helped fund the C.K. Choi Building.
2004 His Holiness the Dalai Lama visits Vancouver at the invitation of the IAR, in collaboration with the Tibetan Cultural Society of BC, the Westcoast Sacred Arts Society, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Simon Fraser University and a coalition of local dharma centres. The Tibetan Studies program is launched during this visit.
2011 The IAR celebrates the 150th birthday of poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. UBC awards an honorary degree to economist, philosopher and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.
2015 The IAR helps launch UBC’s new Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA), a two-year professional degree program in global public policy.
2017 As a founding partner, the IAR launched the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) at UBC.
2021 The IAR Fellows Program is launched and welcomes a cohort of 55 graduate students from a wide range of UBC Departments.
2023 IAR hosts Tunku Zain Al‘Abidin—Malaysian public intellectual and royal—for a talk on Malaysian Politics in September 2023.
2025 IAR holds two executive training courses on the Indo-Pacific Strategy for officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC).
IAR organizes UBC’s first Indo-Pacific Symposium, bringing together academics, scholars, and policy experts to explore challenges in the region.

IAR Directors

Terry McGee   1978-1992, 1995-1998

Pitman Potter   1999-2008

Paul Evans   2009-2012

Yves Tiberghien   2012-2017

Timothy Cheek   2017-2021

Kai Ostwald   2021-Present

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