International Musicological Society East Asian Regional Association (IMSEA)
9th Biennial Conference
Kyushu University, School of Design, Ohashi Campus
Fukuoka, Japan 5–7 March 2027
https://imsea2027.org
The Regional Association for East Asia of the International Musicological Society (IMSEA) invites proposals for its ninth biennial conference, to be held at the Ohashi Campus of Kyushu University’s School of Design in Fukuoka, Japan, from 5 to 7 March 2027. We welcome proposals from across the full range of music scholarship, including those reflecting historical, ethnographic, theoretical and analytical, sociological, philosophical, and scientific methods. Presentations of an inter-disciplinary and/or inter-regional character are particularly encouraged. Participants need not currently reside or work in East Asia. Membership in the International Musicological Society (IMS) is not required, though we encourage participants to join the IMS and enjoy a wide range of benefits (https://www.musicology.org/member-benefits).
Since its founding in 2011, IMSEA has held biennial conferences in Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Suzhou, Jeonju, Tainan, and Nanning. We hope this 2027 conference in Fukuoka will continue to connect our community in East Asia with the global musicological network, and we look forward to dialogue and collaboration among scholars across diverse specialty areas, regions, and generations at this conference and beyond.
Keynote Speech
Professor Holly Watkins
(Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester) Personal Information
Special Lecture
Professor Shūhei Hosokawa, Emeritus
(International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Nichibunken) Personal Information
Categories of Presentation
- Individual Paper. Each paper is allotted 30 minutes, with 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for Q&A.
- Panel Session. Each panel will be either a 90-minute session with three presenters or a 120-minute session with four or five presenters; the 90/120-minute slot includes discussion among presenters and the audience. Panels involving researchers from different regions and/or areas of specialization are particularly encouraged. The panel organizer should act as the corresponding author and submit the proposal as a package that includes the abstracts of each presentation as well as an overall description of the entire panel.
- Poster/Media Display. A0-size poster or desktop display. Poster and media displays may be presented in conjunction with the content of an individual paper or panel session.
An individual may submit up to one proposal in each category.
Language
Abstracts must be written in English. Presentations in any language are welcome. If the presentation is to be given in a language other than English, the author should prepare an English translation to be projected on screen or distributed as a PDF or hard copy. The choice of presentation language will not affect the likelihood of acceptance.
Anonymous Peer Review
All submissions will undergo anonymous peer review. To ensure the integrity of the review process, the abstract document itself must not contain any information that could identify the author(s). Please observe the following:
- Do not include the author’s name, affiliation, or biographical information anywhere in the abstract document.
- Avoid self-identifying references in the body of the abstract (e.g., “in my previous book…,” “as I argued in [Author 2023]…”). Where reference to one’s own work is unavoidable, please refer to it in the third person or anonymize the citation (e.g., “[Author], 2023”).
- Acknowledgments of funding bodies, collaborators, or institutions should be omitted from the abstract and may be added only at the camera-ready stage.
Author identifying information (name, affiliation, bio, contact details) should be provided on a separate cover page within the same submission file, clearly distinguished from the abstract itself. This cover page will be removed by the Local Organizing Committee chair before abstracts are sent to reviewers.
Submission Guidelines
Proposals should represent original research and must be submitted as a single Microsoft Word or PDF file containing two clearly separated sections:
Section 1: Cover Page (with identifying information)
- Title of the presentation (capitalized according to the Chicago Manual of Style: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
- Name of the presenter, as it should appear in the program (in Roman letters). For panels: names of the panel organizer, chair, and each panelist
- Affiliation(s), if any
- Short bio (100 words maximum per author)
- Presentation language
- Contact email of the corresponding author
- Submission category (Individual Paper / Panel Session / Poster or Media Display)
Section 2: Anonymized Abstract (no identifying information)
- Title of the presentation
- Abstract, with the following maximum lengths:
- Individual Paper: 250 words
- Panel Session: 300 words for the overall panel description, plus 250 words for each presentation abstract
- Poster/Media Display: 300 words describing the display (if related to an individual paper or panel session, please specify the title of that proposal)
Submissions that contain identifying information within the anonymized abstract section may be returned to the author for revision before being sent for review.
Submission
Please send proposals by email to: imsea2027loc [atmark] gmail.com
- Submission deadline: 31 August 2026
- Notification of result: 31 October 2026
For any inquiries, please contact us at the address above.