Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Deemed to be University will host the XIXth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES), 2023.
India, represented by the KISS, won the bid against Croatia by a huge margin to host the next edition of World Congress of Anthropology at KISS in 2023 in collaboration with Utkal University and Sambalpur University.
More than 10,000 delegates from over 150 countries are expected to participate in the World Congress, which is held every five years in different parts of the world.
ICAES is the largest gathering of academics and researchers in the fields of Anthropology and Ethnology in the world. It is also the oldest meet of the scholars engaged in the scientific study of humankind.
India is going to host the meet after a long gap of 45 years.
Notably, KISS is the first-ever tribal university in the world, won the highly competitive bidding process after a lot of efforts, constant follow-up, communication, presentation, defending and going through a rigorous procedure of voting.
KISS had applied earlier in 2014 but lost the bid to Brazil then. During the Congress held in Brazil from July 16 to 20, 2018, the final bidding was held between KISS and Croatia.
KISS from India got 2,084 votes, while Croatia could manage only 89.
Utkal University VC Prof Soumendra Mohan Patnaik, Prof Deepak Behera and KISS team presented the plan before the General Assembly to host this mega event.
Anthropology departments of KISS, Sambalpur University and Utkal University and Indian Anthropological Association, Delhi are the partners of the proposed World Congress.
Further, Indian Anthropological Society, Kolkata, and Ethnography and Folk Culture Society, Lucknow have also agreed in principle to be partners.