Wednesday, February 28, 2007

HPAIR Conferences 2007

The Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) invites you to participate in our annual summer student conference in Asia.

HPAIR is a partnership between the students and faculty of Harvard University, offering a sustained academic program and a forum of exchange to facilitate discussion of the most important economic, political, and social issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific region.

This year, the event will be held between August 17-20th in Beijing.

HPAIR's international conference has emerged as the largest annual Harvard event in Asia and the largest annual student conference in the Asia-Pacific region, attracting a wide variety of distinguished speakers and future leaders as Harvard's student outpost in Asia. Past speakers at our conferences include former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, Singapore President S.R. Nathan, Secretary-General of ASEAN Ong Keng Yong, and former Japanese Finance Minister Heizo Takanaka.

Both delegates and papers are welcome! The theme will be Engaging Asia: Discourse and Dialogue. More details are available on their website. You can also make your application online before March 15th.

The Workshop Topics include:
  • Economic Growth in Asia and its Effects on Society
  • Comparative Notions of Leadership
  • Understanding Security Issues in East Asia
  • Inequality and Social Policy in Asia
  • Asia's Information Society
  • Popular Culture in Asia
In addition, HPAIR Academic Conference will offer delegates opportunities to participate in field trips, visits to our host schools, and gala dinner.

For those interested, there is also a Business Conference (as opposed to the Academic Conference above) which will be held on 24th-26th August in Hong Kong, co-hosted by the University of Hong Kong.

The HPAIR Business Conference now invites all university students to apply to participate as conference delegates. Graduate students, post-graduate students and professionals are also welcome to apply as a regular delegate.

More information is available on the business conference website. Similarly, applications need to be submitted before 15th March 2007.

For any inquiries about HPAIR, please feel free to email help@hpair.org. Or alternatively, contact Sriram Krishnan @ sriramkri (at) gmail.com.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I attended HPAIR 06 (Religion and Nation) and learned lots.

Generally, it's a student-level academic conference where students get to pitch their papers, or get accepted to attend as a delegate.

Last year, more than 500 students from around the world were accepted, and from an approximate of 1200 who applied, the odds of getting in seem higher than I first thought it to be. But being all things Harvard, they still insist it's pretty much a rigorous process before one is accepted as delegate. However, I can only assume the selection was done based solely, or very heavily, on the essay you write. No verification is needed for your academic status, i.e. no need for transcripts.

Good luck to all who are applying. Do contact me if you have any queries!

Anonymous said...

I have been to several international conferences during my years in university, which was several years back then. HPAIR, however, is one that i missed out.

I have heard great reviews from it, especially the intensity of discussion held. As much as I rate it highly, I also feel that this conference is one of the highest charged, if not the highest.

The entrance fee is high, and there is no arrangements for accomodation.Which means you have to fork out money for housing, and be reminded that the hotel--of-choice, where the event is held, is posh - which translates to $. If you have a deep pocket, HPAIR might be great, but if not, there are equally good ones (though less publicized).