The 2026 IAR Indo-Pacific Symposium brings together world-leading scholars and practitioners for a focused afternoon of discussion on the critical issues reshaping Asia and its place in the world. Building on the January 2025 inaugural event, this year’s symposium features an innovative format designed to foster direct, accessible, and thought-provoking engagement across a broad audience of academics, practitioners, and the informed public. It coincides with the AAS annual meeting in Vancouver, thus panelists and participants alike will represent an exceptional concentration of regional expertise, making this symposium especially impactful.
The afternoon opens with a moderated roundtable on China and Southeast Asia in the evolving global order, exploring how states and societies across the region are navigating shifting geopolitical realities and what this means for Canada and its partners.
This is followed by a rapid-fire series of concise and impactful expert talks addressing key hotspots and critical issues across Asia, from Myanmar and Taiwan to trade disruption, climate change, and more.
Schedule
1:30 – 2:00 PM
Registration
2:00 – 2:20 PM
Opening Remarks
Kai Ostwald (The University of British Columbia)
Jeff Nankivell (The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada)
2:20 – 3:10 PM
Roundtable: The Evolving China–Southeast Asia Relationship and Its Global Implications
Moderator
Juliet Lu (The University of British Columbia)
Speakers
Lynette Ong (The University of Toronto)
Jeff Wasserstrom (The University of California, Irvine)
Bill Hurst (The University of Cambridge)
Taomo Zhou (National University of Singapore)
3:10 – 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 – 5:00 PM
Rapid-Fire Talks
3:30 PM — Elvin Ong (National University of Singapore)
The State of Opposition Politics in Asia
3:40 PM — Su Mon Thazin Aung (ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute)
What’s Next in the Myanmar Conflict
3:50 PM — Meredith Weiss (State University of New York at Albany)
Civil Society in Asia
4:00 PM — Kei Koga (Nanyang Technological University)
Japan’s Evolving Security
4:10 PM — Ho-Fung Hung (Johns Hopkins University)
Trade and the Evolving Political Economy
4:20 PM — Yves Tiberghien (The University of British Columbia)
Taiwan
4:30 PM — Shivaji Mukherjee (Simon Fraser University)
India
4:40 PM — Jessica DiCarlo (The University of Utah)
Developments in Resource Politics
4:50 PM — Merlyna Lim (Carleton University)
Artificial Intelligence and Technology Governance
5:00 PM
End of Program
This talk is presented by the Institute of Asian Research (IAR) and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
