The Selection Committee of ICAS 5 met in Kuala Lumpur in January 2007 to evaluate the organized and institutional panels. The Committee is most pleased to report that in total 100 organized panels and 40 institutional panels have been accepted. This brings the total amount of panels to 300 panels including the previously grouped panels of individual submissions. Thus ICAS 5 has the potential to become the largest Asia Studies Event in the world.

A provisional list of panels and its participants is now online at http://www.icas5kl.com/, under the heading Conference. All accepted individual paper presenters should have received a letter of invitation by know, if this is not the case please send an email to info@icas5kl.com. Furthermore, should you not yet have informed the ICAS 5 host regarding your AV requirements, please do so as soon as possible. Also note the early bird registration fee deadline: 1 April 2007!

A message for the appointed chairs of the grouped panels, do note that a jointly construed panel abstract should be submitted by 1 March 2007. Participants who have submitted an application for an ICAS 5 grant will be notified as soon as possible, but no later than 1 May 2007.

The ICAS Book Prize (IBP) has received 80 submissions in total: 46 Humanities and 34 Social Sciences as well as 10 dissertations. Long lists will be announced at the AAS Annual Meeting 2007 in Boston. A new feature of the IBP is the Colleagues Choice Award. Visit our virtual polling station here at this site from 22 March until 15 July 2007 and vote!

ICAS depends on voluntary contributions of people sympathetic to the idea of ICAS. By becoming a friend of ICAS (biennial contribution of € 50) you will receive a 30 % discount on the ICAS 5 registration fee and numerous other advantages. Please download the form at www.icassecretariat.org

We look forward to meet you all at ICAS 5 in Kuala Lumpur!

The ICAS Secretariat