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