The Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) began in 2003 with the first meeting held at the University of Southern California. Since then, the Conference has convened annually to develop a community of scholars and feature research that examines the development, use, and impact of the Internet, mobile phones, and associated new media technologies in the Chinese world.  Scholars from a variety of academic disciplines, including journalism and communication, political science, law, sociology, psychology, education, cultural studies, international relations, and geography, as well as analysts from public- and private-sector research units participate in the conference. Their presentation topics cover internet law and policy, user behavior, online participation, gaming, online civil society, social movement, identity and culture, among other areas.  The conference series has been highly successful in encouraging new and innovative scholarship on the Chinese internet and mobile phones, developing and mentoring researchers and research collaborations, and generating published research on the internet and new media in China. 

The Conference venue changes yearly, and is typically hosted by a local university or research institution.  Previous conferences have been held at: 

2003 | 1^st CIRC, University of Southern California 
2004 | 2^nd CIRC, University of California, Berkeley 
2005 | 3^rd CIRC, Michigan State University 
2006 | 4^th CIRC, Nanyang Technological University 
2007 | 5^th CIRC, Texas A&M University 
2008 | 6^th CIRC, University of Hong Kong 
2009 | 7^th CIRC, University of Pennsylvania 
2010 | 8^th CIRC, Peking University 
2011 | 9^th CIRC, Georgetown University 
2012 | 10^th CIRC, University of Southern California 
2013 | 11^th CIRC, The University of Oxford 
2014 | 12^th CIRC, Hong Kong Polytechnic University 
2015 | 13^th CIRC, University of Alberta 
2016 | 14^th CIRC, Fudan University 
2017 |  15^th CIRC, Texas A&M University 
2018 | 16^th CIRC, University of Leiden 
2019 | 17^th CIRC, National University of Singapore; Murdoch University, Singapore & Australia 

Members of the CIRC Conference Steering Committee:

• HU Yong, Peking University 
• Randy KLUVER, Oklahoma State University 
• Min JIANG, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte 
• Jack Linchuan QIU, National University of Singapore 
• Cara WALLIS, Texas A&M University 
• Peter K. YU, Texas A&M University 
• Weiyu ZHANG, National University of Singapore 
• Baohua ZHOU, Fudan University 
• Florian Schneider, Leiden University

For ten years, Prof. ANG Peng Hwa was a former member of the CIRC Conference Steering Committee until 2015, when he was elected ICA President.