14-16 August 2026
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Between Crisis & Possibility:
Voices for Myanmar’s Transformation
The 5th International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
- Participant Registration is Open
Accepted ICBMS5 participants, including individual and panel presenters, roundtable participants, moderators, discussants and chairs can now register online at the ICBMS website registration page here.… Read more: Participant Registration is Open - New Date for Announcement of Accepted Abstracts & Proposals
The announcement for accepted abstract, roundtable, and panel proposal submission to ICBMS5 will be postponed until April 18 due to the high volume of submissions… Read more: New Date for Announcement of Accepted Abstracts & Proposals - One Day Left for Submissions
The online submission system will close automatically at 23:59 on Feb 28; if you plan to submit to ICBMS5 please have your registration and submission… Read more: One Day Left for Submissions - Submission Reminder: Last Week
This is the last week for submissions to ICBMS5 of all varieties: individual abstracts, roundtable, or panel proposals. Please register and have your submissions complete… Read more: Submission Reminder: Last Week - Time Extended for Submissions
The deadline for submissions of all types: individual abstracts, panel and roundtable proposals for ICBMS5 has been extended to 28 February. For those who have… Read more: Time Extended for Submissions
CONFERENCE THEMES
Powers, Proxies & Contested Resources
From Protest to Civil Disobedience
Legitimacy in Crisis: Elections & Federalism
Accountability, Rights & Reckoning
Care at the Frontlines: Health & Humanitarianism
Flight, Survival & Belonging
Extractivism, Environment & Climate Justice
Agrarian Transition and Food Sovereignty
Borderland Capitalism & Illicit Economies
Bodies in Resistance: Gender & Sexuality
Creative Resistance: Art, Media & Imagination
Hidden Work of Survival & Community Resilience
Schools Under Fire: Education as Resistance
Research from the Margins: Ethics & Knowledge
About ICBMS
The International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) brings together scholars, researchers, and civil society practitioners to examine the social, political, and environmental transformations shaping Myanmar and its communities.
ICBMS brings together:
- established and emerging scholars
- academic researchers
- civil society
- regional and international partners for policy dialogue
ICBMS5 is happening Friday 14 August to Sunday 16 August 2026 at Uniserv CMU on Nimmanhemin Road, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
ICBMS History
This fifth convening of the International Conference of Burma/Myanmar Studies marks a decade of fostering academic dialogue and debate on Myanmar studies, with a focused commitment to highlighting and amplifying the voices of Myanmar scholars from within the country and Southeast Asia.
In 2015 Chiang Mai University hosted the first International Conference on Burma / Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) under the theme “Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges.”
The second ICBMS was held in 2018 at Mandalay University, the first and only time it was held inside Myanmar. Co-hosted with Chiang Mai University, ICBMS2 brought together 543 participants from 29 countries, with 48 paper presentation sessions and 7 roundtables.
ICBMS 3 was delayed due to covid and held as a hybrid event in March 2021. Over 1000 participants joined from across the globe, in person and online, under the title of “Myanmar / Burma in the Changing South East Asia Context.”
ICBMS 4 was hosted at Chiang Mai University in 2024, receiving enormous interest with nearly 800 in-person attendees who took part in panel presentations, film screenings, art exhibitions and roundtable discussions under the theme of “Assemblages of the Future: Rethinking Communities after the State.”
“The conference will create space to examine how political imagination takes hold and how solidarity forms across ethnic, social, and cultural divisions. How do diverse communities share common aspirations while maintaining their distinct voices?”
organized by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD)
with the generous support of the following organizations:
