Advancing Intercultural Research and Dialogue: 
Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges

 Welcome to the 11th IAIR Biennial Conference and the 15th CAFIC Annual Conference

at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), Shanghai, P.R. China,

7-10 July 2019

 (Fellows Day and the 1st Pre-Conference Ph.D. Workshop will be held on Sunday, 7 July)

Our Shared Aims: Being hosted for the first time in China, our Academy has a unique opportunity to collaborate with the Chinese Association for Intercultural Communication (CAFIC) so that both organizations can contribute to and learn from each other! Historically, each IAIR and CAFIC conference seeks to bring research-oriented theorists and practitioners together to present their work and discuss ways to bridge cultural barriers and boundaries.

This 2019 joint-conference aims to attract scholars from varied streams of intercultural and cross-cultural work, leverage the disciplinary strengths of our respective approaches, address perceived and actual cultural differences, and dialogue to build greater global understanding and cooperation.

Along with the leadership of IAIR and CAFIC, our conference team at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) is looking forward to hosting you! Together with our partners and the Scientific Committees/Review Board of both organizations we are working hard to make arrangements and develop an inviting Conference Program and intercultural experience in Shanghai. Therefore, we invite your compelling group symposia, individual paper, and poster proposal abstracts and hope to see you in Shanghai in July 2019!

Together in Shanghai: Situated at the confluence of historic conceptions of East and West, diverse patterns of North and South, the variance between coastal and inland regions, shifts in rural and urban migration, the metropolis of Shanghai provides an interesting multicultural site for this conference. The location can also bring Chinese and Asian cultural/regional initiatives and collaborations into focus.

Primary Organizers and Host:

IAIR: Formed in 1997, the International Academy for Intercultural Research is an association of about 250 scholarly Fellows and Members focused on cross-cultural research in varied disciplines worldwide. IAIR’s mission is to encourage the highest quality empirical research and practice aimed at understanding the ways in which cultures interact, primarily through biennial meetings and publications, like its flagship International Journal of Intercultural Research (IJIR).

CAFIC: Founded in 1995, the China Association for Intercultural Communication has pioneered intercultural studies in China, attracting 200-400+ Chinese and international participants at its annual conferences. Focusing on the intersection between language and culture, CAFIC encourages and embraces all interdisciplinary endeavors and engagements in constructing intercultural dialogue in our global human community.

SISU: Established in 1949, Shanghai International Studies University (http://global.shisu.edu.cn; http://en.shisu.edu.cn) is one of China’s top language, culture, and area studies institutions. SISU has been steadily seeking to build a strong (inter) disciplinary base for intercultural studies, especially through efforts of the SISU Intercultural Institute (established in 2006).