The Committee of the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies is pleased to announce that ICBMS 5 will be held at Chiang Mai University from 14 to 16 August 2026.

Myanmar stands at a critical juncture. The country faces protracted political stalemate, armed conflict, economic decline, and humanitarian crisis. Yet amid fragmentation and violence, communities continue to build alternative futures. Local organizations, resistance groups, and civil society actors across the country are creating new forms of governance, social movements, and civic practice that challenge dominant narratives of nation-building. At the same time, Myanmar’s trajectory is shaped by shifting geopolitical forces across Asia and beyond, as regional and global powers influence its political economy, resource frontiers, and conflict landscape.

ICBMS 5 seeks to foster scholarship and dialogue that advances understanding of these dynamics. The conference will create space for examining how political imagination emerges and takes hold, how solidarity forms across ethnic, social, and cultural divisions, and how diverse communities articulate shared, common aspirations while maintaining their distinct voices. We welcome work that engages with both the constraints of the present moment and the possibilities that continue to emerge from below.

We invite scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners working on Myanmar-related issues to join us in Chiang Mai. Guidelines for the submission of abstracts, panel proposals, and roundtable proposals will be announced in the coming days.

Conference Themes:
Geopolitics and Transnational Investment
Visions of Social Revolution
Electoral Politics and Political Consequences
Human Rights, Justice, and Equity
Health and Humanitarian Politics
Refugees, Migration, Labour, and Forced Displacement
Environmental Justice: Transboundary Pollution and Climate Change
Agrarian Transition and Food Sovereignty
Illicit Economies and the Scam Industry
Gender, Class, and Intersectionality
Arts, Media, and Popular Culture
Social Reproduction and Care
Education and Social Change
Knowledge Production in Burma/Myanmar Studies

Further updates and key dates will be announced soon!