UBIAS Conferences
Every two years, the worldwide network of university-based IAS gather for an in-presence meeting to learn form each others' best practices and to foster inter-IAS collaboration on initiatives, programmes, and projects. Every two years, it meets on a different continent. After Europe, Latin America, and Asia, the UBIAS network gathered in Africa in 2025. The 2027 UBIAS Conference will be held in Australia!
The 2027 biennial UBIAS Global Conference will give an opportunity for all IAS members to visit for the first time the fifth continent where university-based IAS are located. The meeting will explore collaborative initiatives on several key topics: interdisciplinary innovation, the dialogue between art and sciences, AI and science, academic freedom, and coalition building.
The Institute for Advanced Studies at the UWA, Perth (Australia)
The biennial UBIAS Global Conference gives an opportunity for all IAS members to meet in presence over three days in one of the leading Institute in the network. The programme combines keynote lectures, topical sessions on key aspects of the IAS scientific activities as well as a business meeting for the IAS Directors.
The Institute for Advanced Research hosted the first in-presence UBIAS conference in five years from October 30th to November 1st, 2023. Key themes of interdisciplinarity, impact, intersectorality were discussed and two new Institutes were co-opted as members of the UBIAS Community.
The Institute for Advanced Research in Nagoya (Japan)
The Institute for Advanced Study at Aix-Marseille (IMéRA) virtually hosted the 6th Directors' Conference due to strict pandemic restrictions on international mobility. Changes in the UBIAS Statutes were approved and the issue of international scientific collaboration in the age of global pandemics as well as the role of virtual/hybrid modalities of scientific work were discussed.
Institute for Advanced Study of Aix-Marseille (France)
Pre-CONFERENCE, October 2020, held virtually, SÃO PAULO
The Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEA) in Brazil virtually hosted the UBIAS Directors' Pre-Conference from October 12 to 14, 2020, in the impossibility for the Institute for Advanced Study at Aix-Marseille University (IMéRA) to host the face-to-face conference, a fact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The membership session of the business meeting was anticipated, culminating in the entry of six new institutes in the network.
5Th DIRECTORS' CONFERENCE “UBIAS in the New World - UBIAS in a New World", March 2018, SÃO PAULO
The the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEA) in Brazil hosted the 5th UBIAS Directors' Conference on 19-23 March 2018. This was the first UBIAS conference held in Latin-America as the title of the event suggests. Among other issues the Statutes and membership criteria were consolidated during the business meeting and five new members were added to the network.
4th DIRECTORS' CONFERENCE “UBIAS into Impact: Networking our academics to meet global challenges”, June 2016, BIRMINGHAM
The University of Birmingham's Institute of Advanced Studies hosted the 4th meeting of Directors of Institutes of Advanced Study from around the globe. Under the organisation of the UBIAS (University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study) network colleagues discussed the UK, European and global research environment, and planned how IAS's can realise the full potential of the network.
3RD DIRECTORS' CONFERENCE “Rising New Perspectives in an Age of Globalization: Challenges and Prospects”, November 2014, TAIPEI
In November 2014, the UBIAS Directors Conference, hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (National Taiwan University), took place in Taipei. Representatives from America, Europe, Asia and Australia gathered to discuss issues of common interest to their institutes. Under the title Breaking Through Old Boundaries and Paradigms in a New Age of Globalization participants specifically discussed the changing role of East Asia in the global society and academia. More information on the conference can be found here.
Pre-CONFERENCE “Scientific and Academic Knowlegde”, September 2013, VANCOUVER
The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, hosted an interdisciplinary UBIAS Conference on “Scientific and Academic Knowledge” from September 17-19, 2013 at Vancouver, Canada. This format was suggested by the UBIAS Steering Committee as a valuable instrument for integrating the network and engaging the institutes and their fellows in fruitful scientific dialogue. The conference was initiated to strengthen relationships among member institutes and spread knowledge globally.
2ND DIRECTORS' CONFERENCE “Shaping the Future - Navigating in a changing world", March 2013, JERUSALEM
This conference format was suggested to enable regular exchange between UBIAS institutes on a director’s level.
FIRST UBIAS CONFERENCE “University-Based IAS in a Global Perspective: Promises, Challenges, New Frontiers”, October 2010, FREIBURG
From 25th–27th October 2010, the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Germany, hosted the world’s first conference of University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study, to which speakers and participants from leading international research universities were invited. The conference brought together 32 research colleges from 19 countries in five continents. This rich diversity of institutions present facilitated in-depth exchange of views and experiences, and provided an opportunity to explore the potential and development prospects for this new type of academic research institute.