The French School of Asian Studies (École Française d'Extrême-Orient), founded in 1898, operates today under the aegis of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Its mission is the study of the classical civilizations and contemporary societies of Asia through the humanities and social sciences. A network of eighteen research centres in twelve Asian countries allows its 42 senior scholars (anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, historians and others) and several hundred staff and associates to engage in extended periods of fieldwork and conservations projects in collaboration with local specialists and Asianists from around the world.
In 2007, the EFEO took the initiative in founding the European Consortium for Asian Field Study (ECAF). Coordinated by the EFEO, ECAF brings together more than 40 leading academic institutions in the EU, Russia, and Asia. Its principal aims are to provide field access and study facilities to European scholars through the sharing of a network of 22 research facilities in Asia and to encourage joint interdisciplinary programmes in the field of Asian studies. In 2012-2013 ECAF is acquiring an autonomous legal status as a Public Interest Group dedicated to resource pooling in Asian field research.
After many years of individual collaborations between the EFEO and the sinological community in Hong Kong, a permanent EFEO Centre was established in 1994. It is hosted by the Institute for Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), a co-founder of ECAF. The Centre’s traditional cooperation with the ICS and the CUHK Department of Religious Studies also extends to other units of the University as well as other institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Taiwan. In collaboration with its partners, the centre organizes various academic activities and promotes scholarly exchanges between Hong Kong and Europe.
Representative: Prof. Franciscus Verellen
Phone: (852) 3943 7369
Fax: (852) 2603 5149
E-mail: franciscus.verellen@cuhk.edu.hk
Address: EFEO Centre, Institute of Chinese Studies,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong