Trinity Centre for Asian Studies

28/08/2026

A great way to get an introduction to these Asian Languages and our lovely campus at Trinity College Dublin, of course!

Are you looking to pick up a new language, reconnect with one you’ve studied before, or just develop your skills further?

Why not join us at Trinity College Dublin this Autumn?

The School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences at Trinity College Dublin is now inviting applications for its 2026–27 Evening Language Courses. It's open to the public!

Our programme of accessible evening classes includes:

• Irish Sign Language
• Mandarin Chinese
• Japanese – Introduction, Post-Beginners and Intermediate
• Turkish – Introduction, Post-Beginners and Intermediate
• Korean – Introduction and Post-Beginners

There's more! Much more than vocabulary.
You could discover a new culture through its writing systems and real-world contexts with authentic materials incorporated wherever possible.

WHEN DO THEY START
Most courses begin in September 2026 and run for 24 weeks across two 12-week terms.

WHERE?
Classes are primarily held in the Arts Building at Trinity College Dublin, with Irish Sign Language classes taking place at the Centre for Deaf Studies.

Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so apply early.

Find course details, schedules, fees and how to apply right here:
https://www.tcd.ie/slscs/evening-courses/



PPLI / Languages Connect
Language Exchange Ireland
Languages Connect
TCD Centre for Deaf Studies

24/08/2026

This month, on 18 August, our very own Professor Nathan Hill welcomed H.E. Mr MIYAGAWA Manabu, Ambassador of Japan to Ireland, and Ms NAKATA Keiko, First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Ireland, to Trinity College Dublin!

Dr INOUE Keiko, Research Fellow and Japanese Studies
Coordinator at Trinity, also joined the meeting.

The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange views on strengthening academic and intellectual links between Trinity and Japan.

Ambassador Miyagawa highlighted Japan’s participation in Horizon Europe and expressed an interest in further developing cooperation and intellectual exchange between Trinity and a wide range of stakeholders in Japan.

Looking ahead to 2027, which will mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Ireland, the meeting also explored opportunities to
deepen academic and cultural exchange and build on the longstanding.

We greatly value our continued engagement with the Embassy of Japan in Ireland and look forward to further strengthening collaboration in Japanese Studies, academic exchange, and wider intellectual and cultural engagement between Ireland and Japan.

Trinity College Politics Society
Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Japan Society
Ireland Japan Association
Japan Ireland Social Group

19/08/2026

One of our September lectures will explore contemporary developments in Tibet through two complementary perspectives.

Join us for a talk on"The Withering of Tibetan Nationalism/Ecological Socialism in Practice: A Study of Collective Pastoral Economy in Tibet’s Ga Tsho Community"

With Speakers: Yan Hairong and Barry Sautman

📆 Wednesday 16 September 2026, 5pm- 6.30pm
📍 TRiSS Seminar Room, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

🎟️ Register here:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-withering-of-tibetan-nationalismecological-socialism-in-practice-tickets-1993932644214?aff=oddtdtcreator

Barry Sautman will examine the changing landscape of Tibetan émigré nationalism, considering demographic shifts, evolving international support, and changing identities within Tibet.

Yan Hairong presents new research on pastoral development, challenging conventional assumptions about privatisation and environmental management through a case study of a Tibetan pastoral collective.

Together, the talks offer fresh insights into nationalism, governance, rural development, and environmental sustainability, highlighting the complex social, political, and economic transformations taking place in contemporary Tibetan regions and their wider significance for understanding modern China.

19/08/2026

Elites in Western ex-colonial states disparage China as neocolonialist. Scholars have refuted that notion, but have also shown that the Chinese presence abroad is more than just developmentalism.

The West’s distorting “China-in-Africa” framework overstates that presence and often focuses on epiphenomenal aspects of it

Explore this topic with us at our next September talk
“Differences at the Margin: Understanding Chinese Investment in Africa”

With Speakers: Yan Hairong and Barry Sautman

📆 Tuesday 15 September 2026, 6 p.m. -7.30 p.m.

📍 TRiSS Seminar Room, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

🎟️ Book here:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/differences-at-the-margin-understanding-chinese-investment-in-africa-tickets-1993929385467?aff=oddtdtcreator

Based on documentary evidence and fieldwork in two southern African countries, our guest speakers seek to understand the basis for Chinese capital and Chinese people’s interactions with Africa and Africans.

They will show that semi-peripheral China’s investment and population in Africa partly fits into the neoliberal world order. It also differs at the margin, however, from the presence of other countries, particularly in challenging local-level monopoly practices.

18/08/2026

Elites in Western ex-colonial states disparage China as neocolonialist. Scholars have refuted that notion, but have also shown that the Chinese presence abroad is more than just developmentalism.

The West’s distorting “China-in-Africa” framework overstates that presence and often focuses on epiphenomenal aspects of it

Explore this topic with us at our next September talk
"Differences at the Margin: Understanding Chinese Investment in Africa"

With Speakers: Yan Hairong and Barry Sautman

📆 Tuesday 15 September 2026, 6 p.m. -7.30 p.m.

📍 TRiSS Seminar Room, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

🎟️ Book here:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/differences-at-the-margin-understanding-chinese-investment-in-africa-tickets-1993929385467?aff=oddtdtcreator

Based on documentary evidence and fieldwork in two southern African countries, our guest speakers seek to understand the basis for Chinese capital and Chinese people’s interactions with Africa and Africans.

They will show that semi-peripheral China’s investment and population in Africa partly fits into the neoliberal world order. It also differs at the margin, however, from the presence of other countries, particularly in challenging local-level monopoly practices.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Barry Sautman, professor emeritus in the Division of Social Science at the The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. A political scientist and lawyer, he has worked on ethnic policies and politics in China, including ethnic regional autonomy.

He has a particular research interest about Xinjiang Ughur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region and has published numerous articles and monographs. His most recent book is Telling Tall Tales: “Uyghur Genocide” as a Political Stratagem (Brill 2026). In recent two decades, he has also co-authored with Yan Hairong on China-Africa links , including research on China/Africa political economy and interactions between Chinese and Africans, having published in Chinese China in Africa: Discourses and Reality (中国在非洲：话语与现实).

YAN Hairong, Professor at Tsinghua Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Sociology and honorary professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Her earlier research focused on rural-to-urban migrant domestic workers in China. In recent decade, she has become concerned with food sovereignty and agrarian change in China and has conducted field research in rural Xinjiang and rural Tibet. She publishes in the Journal of Peasant Studies and the Journal of Agrarian Change and contributes to the food sovereignty network in China. In 2024 she and her teammates published (in Chinese) 乡村纪事：新型集体经济为什么行 （Documenting the countryside: Why New Rural Collective Economies Can Work. For the past two decades, she has collaborated with Barry Sautman on China-Africa links and has co-authored East Mountain Tiger, West Mountain Tiger: China, Africa, the West and “Colonialism”.


Trinity Business School
Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities
Trinity College Politics Society
Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin
TEDx Trinity College Dublin

18/08/2026

27/07/2026

Hear from our graduates and current students!
Country President of AstraZeneca Ireland; Federico Vigano, shares his experience of our M.Phil. in Chinese Studies programme:

"Doing the M.Phil. in Chinese Studies has been one of the best experiences in my academic career. The quality of lecturers is really world class and the balance between learning and research is perfect to prepare students for future challenges. Classes are really international, and the presence of Chinese students is a plus to foster cultural exchange. Trinity College Dublin is a vibrant environment where you receive all the support you need to have not only a great academic but also a fantastic personal experience.

在圣三一大学修读中国研究硕士是我在学术事业里最好的经验之一。教学人员具有世界顶级的教学质素。课程中学习和研究的比例得宜，完美地装备学生面对未来的挑战。圣三一大学的课堂十分国际化，就读的中国留学生更有助促进文化交流。圣三一大学里朝气勃勃的环境不但提供学生所需要的学术经验，亦是一个精彩的人生经歴。Federico Vigano, 中国研究硕士学生 (两年兼读制), 2018-2020""

Find more feedback from our students at https://bit.ly/TCSTestimonialC1

27/07/2026

We will be kicking off the academic year this September with the lecture : "Russo-Chinese Relations in a Time of War"
with Speaker: Richard Sakwa

The Sino-Russian relationship has become one of the defining geopolitical developments of the twenty-first century, yet its long-term future remains uncertain.

This lecture explores the historical evolution of Russo-Chinese relations, from post-Cold War reconciliation to today's strategic alignment, and examines how the Russo-Ukrainian War has reshaped this partnership

📆 Thursday 03 September 2026, | 4.30 p.m. -5.30 p.m.
📍 2041B Uí Chadhain Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

Book here:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tcas-lecture-russo-chinese-relations-in-a-time-of-war-tickets-1993924190930?aff=oddtdtcreator

Join us as Prof Richard Sakwa, Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Kent, considers the political, economic, and security foundations of the relationship, including energy cooperation, defence collaboration, and shared geopolitical interests.

Against the backdrop of intensifying great power competition, the lecture asks whether the current Sino-Russian alignment can endure growing international pressures and continue to shape the evolving global order.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Sakwa is an internationally recognised scholar of comparative politics, international relations, and political philosophy, with a particular focus on Russian and European affairs. He has held academic appointments at the Universities of Essex, California, Santa Cruz, and Kent. He has published extensively on Russian politics, the changing international order, and East–West relations.

His latest books are The Putin Paradox (Bloomsbury, 2020), Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War (Lexington Books, 2022), The Russia Scare: Fake News and Genuine Threat (Routledge, 2022), The Lost Peace: How the West Failed to Prevent a Second Cold War (Yale University Press, 2023) and The Culture of the Second Cold War (Anthem Press, 2025). His book The Russo-Ukrainian War: Follies of Empire was published by Lynne Rienner Publishers in March 2026.




Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Trinity Politics Society
TEDx Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College Politics Society
Trinity Business School
Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin
Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin

24/07/2026

Were you at our last summer in June? Here’s a quick flashback to the gorgeous day we had coming together as a community .

Missed it? No bother there’ll be many more !