The 22nd Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) |vRegional Conference of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) Religions 360° Bucharest, 20-25 September 2026.
In their unique and vibrant ways, the international congresses and conferences of a large sphere of research illustrate similar endeavours to encyclopaedias and general reference works: circumscribing knowledge. Since the emergence of its first institutions and indeed to date, the academic study of religions is consistently part and parcel of such vast processes of organising, defining and publicly sharing knowledge. Since more than 150 years, international conferences and global congresses on the religious history of the oikumene have best and uninterruptedly represented the scope and results of the academic study of religions, with world congresses since 1900 and annual European congresses since 2000, enthused by the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR, since 1950) and the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR, since 2000).
The Bucharest 2026 Congress will be the 22nd Conference of EASR and the 2026 Regional Conference of IAHR. Under these most prominent auspices worldwide, we invite scholars from across the world to reflect upon and contribute towards the broad purpose, past and perspectives of the academic study of religions within the humanities as well as within the production, communication and advancing of knowledge at large. Under the overall topic Religions 360°, scholars of religions working in each and every field or subfield of the discipline, irrespective of their thematic, chronological, methodological, or institutional affiliation, are encouraged to participate in projecting their newest research results into the canvas of persistent, decisive questions. What, how and why are we studying when we assume we study religions? Is the academic study of religions still a relatively homogenous knowledge project or, beyond the entropy or inertias of specific collective agents, already and unequivocally became fully fragmentised and thus dissolved beyond recognition? Are the scholars of religions still paying sufficient attention to the advancement of knowledge in connected or related disciplines? How may scholars of religion still describe and defend their ongoing research within the whole gamut of the humanities? What would scholars of religion recommend as a community to their colleagues in neighbouring or distant knowledge fields? How would genuinely function such a dialogue under the eruptive tension of unprecedented macro-challenges, from posthumanism to ‘post-truth’ to the acceleration of LLM and/or AI? If indeed irreplaceable, how should the academic study of religions be represented, integrated within and supported by public and private institutions of knowledge? A first in the life of one of the youngest academies in Europe (f. 1866), being co-organized by the Romanian Academy’s Institute for the History of Religions, the 2026 EASR & IAHR Congress in Bucharest will build upon the 2006 EASR & IAHR Conference organized by the very same RAHR team. Next September in Bucharest, the Congress proposes to examine these and all other associated questions, once again in Eastern Europe, with religions – and their scholars – at the centre of knowledge.
Scholars from Moldova and Ukraine as well as participants from low-income countries members of IAHR will benefit from a 50% fee discount.
As for previous EASR conferences, the EASR Committee will offer several bursaries for younger scholars, for which please visit https://www.easr.eu/bursaries/bursaries-guidelines/ RAHR & IHR will offer several bursaries for RAHR/IHR members coming from outside Bucharest/from other European institutions.
In case of cancellation: full refund fees before 30 June 2026, no refund fees after 30 June 2026 or for no-show.
Besides an exhibition of rare manuscripts and books prepared by the Congress Committee, global and local exhibitors – from publishing houses to universities and research institutions, public or private – are strongly encouraged to apply, on flexible terms, for presenting their recent publications and teaching/research programmes related to the everlasting goals of EASR, IAHR and the Congress.
Visas: no need of visa for residents in the states of the European Union, the European Economic Area, or the Swiss Confederation. For visas for participants outside EU, EEA or the Swiss Confederation, please visit https://www.mae.ro/en/node/2040. As a Schengen state since 2024, Romania issues Schengen visas, for which please visit https://www.mae.ro/en/node/30325. The Code of conduct for 2026 Bucharest Congress is the EASR Code of conduct, available at https://www.easr.eu/about-the-easr/code-of-conduct-for-easr-conferences/
The Bucharest Congress of 20-25 September 2026 (Sunday to Friday) is an in-person only event. As a contribution to the betterment of the public understanding of religion, some events of the Congress – including the Opening ceremony or book launches – will be live streamed and then archived on the Congress website and YouTube channel. Those willing to further contribute by accepting the recording of their panels and research results are kindly invited to mention it upon registration.
For the scholarly life of EASR, it should be mentioned Romania – with Bucharest – will become only the fourth country organizing the EASR annual conference twice, after the United Kingdom (Cambridge 2001, Liverpool 2013), Italy (Messina 2009, Pisa 2021) and Sweden (Stockholm 2012, Gothenburg 2024). Moreover, the EASR Annual Conference in Bucharest will be the very first one organized twice in the same city.
The academic study of religions – history of religions |vistoria religiilor as is best known in Romania – has advanced through conferences and congresses not only since 1950, the foundation date of the IAHR, but from 1900 (and possibly even since 1873), with world congresses then assimilated to the IAHR, see https://www.iahrweb.org/pastcon.php. Thus, the countries which organized two or more congresses (IAHR and EASR combined), from 1900 up to the present day, are only eight: France (IAHR 1900, EASR 2022), Switzerland (IAHR 1904, EASR 2018), United Kingdom (IAHR 1908, IAHR 1975, EASR 2001, EASR 2013), Sweden (IAHR 1929, IAHR 1970, EASR 2012), Netherlands (IAHR 1950, EASR 2014, next EASR 2027), Italy (IAHR 1955, IAHR 1990, EASR 2009, EASR 2021), Japan (IAHR 1958, IAHR 2005), and Germany (IAHR 1960, EASR 2007, IAHR 2015). On the worldwide scale and across the longest history of these global scholarly events, Romania will only be the ninth country organizing a congress twice. Moreover, after Paris (1900 & 2002) and Stockholm (1970 & 2012), Bucharest (2006, now 2026) will become only the third city in the world and world history of the discipline organizing twice such congresses. We are thus grateful indeed for the trust and support offered by the Executive Committees of the EASR (RAHR being a member since 2002) and the IAHR (RAHR being a member since 2005) in strengthening the academic study of religions through challenging times in Bucharest and Romania, where a treasured tradition of research begun in mid-19th century, yet the first institution devoted to the history of religions was founded in 2008 only, as a direct consequence of RAHR publications and of the vibrant Bucharest EASR |vIAHR conference in 2006.
The Bucharest Congress will celebrate 150 years since the first Sanskrit teaching course initiated at the University of Bucharest by the Indologist and historian of religions Constantin Georgian, 40 years since the death of Bucharest-born historian of religions Mircea Eliade and 35 years since the death of the Iași-born historian of religions Ioan Petru Culianu, three decades since the foundation of the first professional association for the history of religions in Romania (RAHR) as well as 20 years since the preceding Bucharest Congress, back then the largest EASR conference to date (the 6th EASR Annual |vIAHR Special Conference) – and the first ever organized in Eastern Europe.
By its international status and expected global affluence, the 2026 Congress in Bucharest has the chance of becoming the most indicative world event in the academic study of religions in 2026 as well as the most significative academic event in humanities and social sciences in Romania in 2026.
Chairperson: Dr Eugen Ciurtin, research professor, director of the Institute for the History of Religions of the Romanian Academy.
Organizing Committee: Dr Ionuț Daniel Băncilă, Professor Gabriela Cursaru, Dr Daniela Dumbravă, Vlad Șovărel, Professor Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban. For news and updates, please follow us on www.ihr-acad.ro & www.religions360.eu
All communication should be addressed to <[email protected] > [email protected] [email protected]
We are very much looking forward to welcoming you in Bucharest!
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