Philippe Peycam is the director of the International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden University, The Netherlands – a research organization and knowledge exchange platform that promotes interdisciplinary programs that engage partners in – and with – Asia, in the world (http://iias.asia/). Philippe Peycam is an historian of Southeast Asia (Vietnam). His first monograph is The Birth of Vietnamese Political Journalism: Saigon 1916-30, Columbia University Press, 2012. For 10 years, he worked to establish a dual academic and civic organization in post-war Cambodia, the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS). At IIAS, Peycam has engaged his institute in a deepening of its intellectual and societal impact under three overlapping clusters: Urban Ecology; Cultural Heritage and Global Interactions.

Around these themes, IIAS explores ways to engage in trans-cultural exchanges inclusive of multiple social actors. With Aarti Kawlra, he supervises the transnational program “Humanities across Borders, Asia and Africa in the World” (HaB), supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2017-2026). Another IIAS initiative facilitates platforms that bring together academics and civic actors from Africa Latin America and Asia. One emblematic South-South-North exchange is a series of international events held every three years in Africa in collaboration with African, Asian and other partners.