Cérium launches a Chair in Asia, Indo-Pacific Studies

In order to better understand Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, the Center for International Studies and Research at the University of Montreal (CERIUM) has launched a new chair aimed at gaining better knowledge of the issues of this region.

Funded by the Ministry of International Relations and Francophonie of Quebec, this chair will serve as a center for study, research and inter-university dissemination of knowledge about the Asia-Pacific Indo-Pacific in Quebec, Canada and Francophonie. It revolves around three main axes: strategy and diplomacy; Economy and trade; Social, political, environmental and emerging issues.

Federal experience

Dominique Caouette, Professor of Political Science at UdeM, will take up the position of Chair of Asian, Indo-Pacific Studies and will be responsible for the Social, Political, Environmental and Emerging Issues axis. “The idea is to have common views on common topics. We want to bring experiences together,” explains the researcher, who is also a member of Cérium.

Dominique Caouette will be accompanied by two colleagues, who are also experts in the region. “One of the main goals of the chair is to raise awareness among Quebeckers and Canadians about” the importance of Asia and India, recalls Ari van Assche, professor in the Department of International Affairs at HEC Montreal and chair of the Economics and Trade Hub. “The Pacific for our economy.” It is crucial to study Asia and the Indo-Pacific region and bring together complementary expertise to do so, because it is “a huge, heterogeneous region that is far from forming a single bloc,” adds Jan Rösch, professor and chair of geography at UQAM. The strategic and diplomatic axis.