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Welcome to Heidelberg!

The 28th European Conference for South Asian Studies will take place in Heidelberg, Germany, from 1st to 4th of October 2025.
The European Conference for South Asian Studies (ECSAS) has met regularly since 1968, and provides an important opportunity to discuss current research and scholarship on topics relating to South Asia within the humanities and social sciences. The ECSAS conferences now operate under the auspices of the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS), a charitable academic association supporting research and teaching concerning South Asia with regard to all periods and fields of study.

The 2025 conference will be held at Heidelberg’s Neue Universität, which is located in the center of Heidelberg’s old city, and in walking distance from the South Asia Institute (SAI), the organizing institute, part of Heidelberg University which is Germany’s oldest university, founded in 1386.
The SAI is a hub for the study of South Asia in Europe, comprising seven departments working in transdisciplinary methodologies, offering students a broad range of language learning. Since 2019, the SAI has been located in the central Bergheim campus, as part of CATS: the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies–which comprises four member institutes: the SAI, the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, the Institute of Anthropology and the Institute for East Asian Studies.

The CATS library has an outstanding collection of South Asian materials, including an extraordinary open-access online collection of rare materials, and is the home of HASP, the Heidelberg Asian Studies Publication series. The South Asia Institute was established in 1962 under the leadership of the late Professor Dietmar Rothermund, who was also chairman of the EASAS from 1997 to 2008, and honorary president from 2010 to 2020. The SAI is proudly multilingual, with much of its teaching conducted in English, making it an attractive location for students and scholars from all over the world.

Convenor Ute Hüsken (South Asia Institute, Cultural and Religious History of South Asia)
Co-Convenor Kama Maclean (South Asia Institute, Department of South Asian History)