I have been invited to be a member of the Asian Cultural Research Hub (ACRH) at University of Melbourne.
Founded in 2023, spring-boarding from the Asian Cultural Research Network (2015–2019) and drawing on the co-convenors’ long-term involvement in the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies project, the ACRH aims to foster a local, national and international intellectual community for PhD students and Early Career Researchers working on Asia-related cultural studies research.
As part of its Global Priorities, the University of Melbourne aspires to become a hub of knowledge and research for the Asia Pacific region. The University aims to advance collaborations with scholarly communities in Asia to enhance our contributions to the cultural and intellectual life of our region.
The field-defining success of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies project since its launch in the late 1990s demonstrates that Cultural Studies approaches are proving appropriate, productive and exciting for scholars across Asia in tackling challenging questions of our time, including those around transforming identities, cultural creativity, digital life, social movements, and the intensifying mobilities of culture in globalisation.
Reflecting this, over the past decade, successive waves of PhD students and Early Career Researchers from countries across Asia have travelled to the School of Culture and Communication to pursue Cultural Studies-based research projects. As these numbers continue to swell, the ACRH serves as a strategic hub to activate these scholars’ collective commitment to Cultural Studies research on Asian topics.